Hess Corporation Announces 2013 Capital and Exploratory Budget

  Hess Corporation Announces 2013 Capital and Exploratory Budget

Business Wire

NEW YORK -- January 9, 2013

Hess Corporation (NYSE: HES) announced today a 2013 capital and exploratory
budget of $6.8 billion, which is down 18 percent from 2012 expenditures of
approximately $8.3 billion. Of the $6.7 billion budgeted for Exploration and
Production, $2.7 billion (40 percent) is dedicated to unconventional shale
resources and the remainder is focused on conventional resources, with $1.85
billion (28 percent) for production, $1.6 billion (24 percent) for
developments and $550 million (8 percent) for exploration. As in recent years,
$100 million is dedicated to Marketing and Refining and Corporate.

John Hess, Chairman and CEO, commented, “Our Corporation’s capital and
exploratory budget for 2013 is focused on attractive investment opportunities
and consistent with our plan, announced in July 2012, to significantly reduce
overall expenditures in 2013.”

Greg Hill, President of Worldwide Exploration and Production, stated, “Our
expenditures in the Bakken are planned to be $2.2 billion in 2013 versus
approximately $3.1 billion in 2012. This reduced level of spend is driven by
lower well costs associated with our transition to pad drilling from hold by
production mode and decreased investments in infrastructure projects. In
addition, we plan to increase our expenditures in the emerging Utica shale
play to $400 million from $300 million last year.”

“In 2013, our production budget includes infill drilling programs at Block G
in Equatorial Guinea and the Valhall Field in Norway. Key development projects
include Tubular Bells in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico and the North Malay
Basin project in Malaysia. Our exploration program includes wells in Ghana and
Kurdistan.”

Unconventional expenditures of approximately $2.7 billion include:

  * Development of the Bakken Shale in North Dakota, where Hess plans to
    operate 14 rigs and complete the expansion of the Tioga Gas Plant
  * Drilling appraisal wells in the Utica Shale in Ohio

Production expenditures of approximately $1.85 billion include:

  * Drilling production wells on Block G (Hess 85 percent – operator) in
    Equatorial Guinea
  * Drilling production and water injection wells at the Valhall Field in
    Norway (Hess 64 percent) and the South Arne Field in Denmark (Hess 61
    percent – operator)
  * Drilling production and water injection wells at the Shenzi Field (Hess 28
    percent) and drilling a production well at the Llano Field (Hess 50
    percent) in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico

Development expenditures of approximately $1.6 billion include:

  * Development drilling at the Tubular Bells Field (Hess 57 percent –
    operator) in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico
  * Installation of the early production system and front-end engineering and
    design for full field development of North Malay Basin (Hess 50 percent –
    operator)
  * Continued development of Block A-18 (Hess 50 percent) in the Joint
    Development Area in the Gulf of Thailand

Exploration expenditures of approximately $550 million include:

  * Further exploration activities on the Deepwater Tano / Cape Three Points
    Block (Hess 90 percent – operator) in Ghana
  * Completing seismic and drilling two wells at the Dinarta and Shakrok
    Blocks (Hess 80 percent – operator) in Iraqi Kurdistan

 
2013 Estimated Capital and Exploratory Expenditures

($ Millions)
 
By Segment:                                       By Region:              
                                 
Exploration and Production                        Exploration and
                                                  Production
                                                                          
Unconventionals                   2,700           United States          3,600
Production                        1,850           Europe                 1,000
Development                       1,600           Africa                 700
Exploration                       550             Asia and Other         1,400
                                                                          
Total Exploration and             6,700                                  6,700
Production
                                                                          
Marketing, Refining and           100
Corporate
                                                                          
Total                             6,800
                                                                          

Hess Corporation is a leading global independent energy company primarily
engaged in the exploration for and production of crude oil and natural gas,
and the marketing of refined petroleum products, natural gas and electricity.
More information on Hess Corporation is available at http://www.hess.com.

Cautionary Statements

This news release contains projections and other forward-looking statements
within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section
21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. These projections and statements
reflect the company’s current views with respect to future events and
financial performance. No assurances can be given, however, that these events
will occur or that these projections will be achieved, and actual results
could differ materially from those projected as a result of certain risk
factors. A discussion of these risk factors is included in the company’s
periodic reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Contact:

Hess Corporation
Investors:
Jay Wilson, 212-536-8940
or
Media:
Jon Pepper, 212-536-8550