BTE

Baytex Announces 2015 Budget and Change to Dividends Benzinga.com - 12/08/2014 5:30 PM ET Email Article CALGARY, ALBERTA--(Marketwired - Dec. 8, 2014) - Baytex Energy Corp. ("Baytex") (TSX:BTE)(NYSE: BTE ) announces that its Board of Directors has approved a 2015 capital budget of $575 to $650 million, which is designed to generate average production of 88,000 to 92,000 boe/d for 2015 after planned non-core asset sales of approximately 1,000 boe/d. The Board of Directors has also approved a revised dividend level of $0.10 per share per month, down from $0.24 per share per month, currently. Commenting on the announcement, James Bowzer, President and Chief Executive Officer, said: "Given the recent collapse in world oil prices, we believe our 2015 budget strikes the right balance between preserving our operational momentum in delivering organic production growth and managing our dividends prudently to maintain strong levels of financial liquidity." The oil price environment has been extremely challenging in the recent months, with the benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) price falling from the US$100/bbl level to approximately US$63/bbl today. This precipitous decline in WTI is due largely to the global market for crude oil being fundamentally oversupplied. The current outlook is for this pricing weakness to persist for the coming months. In response to this economic challenge, our 2015 capital budget reflects a reduction of approximately 30% from our original expectation. We expect to deliver modest organic production growth in 2015 despite this reduction in spending. The mid-point of our 2015 production guidance range reflects an organic production growth rate of approximately 4% over the expected 2014 annual average production rate and approximately 2% over the expected second half 2014 average production rate, after adjusting for 2014 acquisition and divestiture activities. This is a testament to the efficiency and quality of the assets within our portfolio. 2015 Capital Budget Highlights