ExxonMobil has reduced its 2020 investment plans by 30% from US$33bn to US$23bn. Most of the capital expenditure cut will be located in the Permian Basin in western Texas and in the south-eastern New Mexico (United States), where the company expected to produce 360,000 bbl/d in 2020. ExxonMobil now foresees to reduce its output by 15,000 bbl/d in 2020 (around 345,000 bbl/d), and by 100,000 to 150,000 bbl/d in 2021 (to 210,000 - 260,000 bbl/d).
In Guyana, the group remains committed to develop its deepwater discoveries in the long term. The second phase of Liza field development remains on schedule, with the employment of a second floating production storage and offloading (FPSO), Liza Destiny, to enable to produce another 220,000 bbl/d of oil by mid-2022. ExxonMobil will delay by 6 to 12 months the production startup of some activities, including the Payara development in Guyana. Its oil production was expected to reach 220,000 bbl/d in 2023 as the group is awaiting the government approval to proceed with a third production vessel. In addition, ExxonMobil has delayed the final investment decision on the Rovuma LNG project in Mozambique from 2020 to 2021. The liquefaction plant will include two LNG trains with a combined capacity of 15.2 Mt/year. In 2019, ExxonMobil selected a consortium comprising Japanese company JGC, Fluor Corp and TechnipFMC to develop the first phase of the project, worth US$500m. The development of the 3.4 Mt/year Coral LNG project will continue as planned.
The global oil price war and the coronavirus pandemic have prompted other international majors to announce significant cuts in operational costs and in capital expenditures (capex) along with the suspension of their share buyback programmes. Earlier in April 2020, BP cut its 2020 spending plan by a quarter, from US$15bn to US$12bn, including a US$1bn reduction investment in short-cycle onshore activity and a US$1bn reduction in downstream investments (fuels marketing, refining and petrochemicals). Shell decided to reduce its 2020 capital expenditure by US$5bn, from US$25bn to US$20bn (-20%) and its operating costs by US$3-4bn over the next 12 months compared to 2019 levels. Chevron will cut its capital expenditure by US$4bn, from US$20bn to US$16bn (-20%) and half of the investment cut will occur in upstream unconventionals (US$2bn, mainly in the Permian Basin in the United States). Moreover, Total will reduce its capital expenditure by more than US$3bn, from US$18bn to less than US$15bn (- 20%) and its operating costs by US$800m in 2020.