MRO Announces a $5 Billion Budget for 2013

"Our 2013 capital budget of nearly $5.2 billion highlights Marathon Oil's continued focus on value growth, which we expect will generate a 6 to 8 percent year-over-year increase in total Company production, driven by our activity in liquids-rich U.S. resource plays," said Clarence P. Cazalot Jr., Marathon Oil's chairman, president and CEO. "About one-third of our overall budget, or $1.9 billion, is allocated to the Eagle Ford shale play in south Texas where we demonstrated our ability to deliver very strong results in 2012 and recently raised our 2013 production target there to 85,000 net barrels of oil equivalent per day (boed). The economics and well performance we're achieving in the Eagle Ford, along with our ability to drive efficiencies, make this play a focal point of our growth strategy. The Bakken shale in North Dakota and the Oklahoma resource basin are our other two critical plays in the U.S.