Oklahoma City-based Continental Resources, Inc. announced plans to double its capital expenditure budget for 2017 in an effort to accelerate production, according to a company press release issued Thursday.
Based on the company’s recent success in the Bakken region and Oklahoma’s STACK play, Continental will increase its 2017 capital expenditures budget to $1.95 billion. Of this amount, Continental is allocating $1.72 billion to drilling and completion activities, with the remainder to be invested in leasehold and facilities. Continental’s budget for 2016 was $920 million.
“We are capitalizing on the exceptional performance delivered by our operating teams the last two years,” said Harold Hamm, Continental’s CEO. “Our disciplined 2017 budget and growth plan will position the company for multiple years of double-digit production growth.”
The company’s 2017 capital budget is projected to be cash neutral at an average $55 a barrel but Continental expects to generate an additional $200 million in additional cash if the full-year average oil price rises to $60 a barrel, according to the press release.
While the oil and gas industry was plagued by an economic downturn, Continental continued to drill during the past two years. The 2017 budget will allow the company to finish many of the incomplete wells drilled during this time.
Continental anticipates that it will complete 131 wells in western North Dakota. The company also plans to operate an average of 20 drilling rigs in 2017, an increase of one rig from 2016.
Continental expects to grow its Bakken production by nearly 26% in 2017.
In Oklahoma, Continental plans to operate an average of 16 drilling rigs in 2017, with 11 rigs placed in the STACK targeting the Meramec and Woodford formations and five rigs drilling in the SCOOP play. The Company plans to average four completion crews in Oklahoma.