Hess trims 18 percent from Bakken spending

Spending in the Bakken play in North Dakota will drop by 18 percent in the weakened oil price market, U.S. energy company Hess Corp. announced.

"Hess has some of the best acreage in the Bakken, and we will continue to drill in the core of the play which offers the most attractive returns," President and Chief Operating Officer Greg Hill said in a statement.

The company announced Monday, after the closing bell on Wall Street, it was cutting its overall capital and exploration budget for 2015 by 16 percent to $5.6 billion. Spending in Bakken, a shale area at the heart of the U.S. oil boom, will be cut by 18 percent to $1.8 billion.

Crude oil is trading in a bear market, forcing many energy companies to cut back on spending for this year. The price is near a point where some production may be curtailed, but recent state data show few signs of setbacks.

Data from North Dakota show 156 active rig operations in the state as of Monday, a 16 percent decline from this date in 2014 and 22 percent lower than the historic peak recorded Jan. 26, 2012. Production data from November, however, show 1.18 million barrels per day worth of production, a new all-time high.

"As oil prices recover we will increase activity and production accordingly," Hill said.

Elsewhere, the company said it would spend about 42 less on developments in the Utica shale in the Eastern United States. Offshore, the company said it expects to continue spending in the deep U.S. waters of the Gulf of Mexico.