Apache raises 2017 budget by more than 60 pct

Feb 23 (Reuters) – Oil and gas producer Apache Corp said it would spend 63.2 per cent more in 2017 than it did last year, joining a growing list of U.S. shale producers who are ramping up spending to take advantage of a recovery in oil prices.

Apache, which reported a smaller loss on Thursday, plans to spend $3.1 billion in 2017, higher than the $1.9 billion it spent last year.

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The company said it would spend nearly two-thirds of its budget in Texas’ Permian Basin, of which $500 million is budgeted for infrastructure development in the so-called Alpine High field.

Total production was nearly unchanged at 490,376 barrels of oil equivalent per day in the fourth quarter.

Apache said last September it had amassed more than 300,000 acres in the field it calls Alpine High, most of which is in Reeves County, Texas.

U.S. crude prices, which dipped to a low of $26.05 last year have largely traded above $50 since late November.

This has prompted producers such as Exxon Mobil and Hess Corp to boost their capital budgets for the year.

Net loss attributable to Apache’s common shareholders was $182 million, or 48 cents per share, in the three months ended Dec. 31.

The company had posted a loss of $4.02 billion, or $10.62 per share, a year earlier, when it incurred one-time charges of $5.9 billion.

The Houston-based company’s total revenue fell about 2 per cent to $1.45 billion.

(Reporting by John Benny in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D’Souza and Shounak Dasgupta)