HOUSTON (Reuters) - Chevron Corp <CVX.N>, the second largest U.S.-based oil producer, is budgeting $20 billion for capital projects next year, the company said on Thursday.
The San Ramon, California-based company's spending budget is at the high end of its annual $18 billion to $20 billion range through 2020 that it set earlier this year.
Chevron said in a statement that it plans to spend $3.6 billion to produce oil and gas in the Permian Basin of West Texas and New Mexico and $1.6 billion for other shale investments, up from a total of $4.3 billion last year.
Chevron said it also would spend $4.3 billion on the giant Tengiz field in Kazakhstan.
About $2.5 billion of planned spending is for the downstream business that refines, transports and markets fuels and petrochemicals, up $300 million from what the company initially projected it would spend this year.
Two-thirds of the 2019 budget will go toward projects that "realize cash flow within two years," Chief Executive Michael Wirth said in a statement.
Most oil producers have yet to disclose their 2019 budgets, which generally are released in December and January.
(Reporting by Jennifer Hiller; editing by Diane Craft)
