American oil and natural gas exploration and production firm Apache Corporation has cut its budget spending for this year, according to a statement released on Thursday.
The company said its board of directors approved an upstream capital budget of $2.4 billion.
'This represents a significant reduction from its previous 2019 investment plan, as well as from its actual upstream investment level in 2018,' the statement said.
Apache had said in October it planned to have a budget expenditure of $3 billion for 2019.
The decision comes as crude oil prices plummeted more than 40 percent between early October and late December last year.
International benchmark Brent crude declined from $86.74 per barrel on Oct. 3 to as low as $49.93 a barrel on Dec. 26 -- a 42 percent loss.
American benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) decreased from $76.90 a barrel to $42.52 per barrel between those dates to post a 44 percent decline.
Despite the cut in budget spending, the firm said its total oil production this year is estimated to be around its previous production target of 410,000 to 440,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day.
The company added that oil production is expected to grow by 6 to 10 percent in the fourth quarter of 2019, compared to the same period of 2018.
Between those periods, the firm's oil production is estimated to increase by 12 to 16 percent in the U.S., and around 5 percent in the resource-rich Permian Basin located in the U.S. states of Texas and New Mexico.
Apache said it projects WTI to average $53 per barrel this year.
The benchmark price was reported as $52.45 a barrel at 0935 GMT on Friday.
By Ovunc Kutlu
Anadolu Agency
energy@aa.com.tr