RTRS: UPDATE 2-Oil, gas company upstream spending seen up in 2010
* Global spending seen up 11 pct vs 2009 decline
U.S. spending seen up 12 pct in 2010, Canada up 23 pct
* Spending outside North America to rise 10 pct
(Adds details, energy price background)
By Matt Daily
NEW YORK, Dec 17 (Reuters) - Global spending on oil and gas exploration and production will rise 11 percent to $439 billion in 2010, reversing a drop in spending in 2009 as energy prices climb, according to a survey conducted by analysts at Barclays Capital.
The increase shown by the survey of 387 oil and gas producers follows the drop in spending of 15 percent in 2009 from the previous year, when oil prices reached a record high.
The Barclays' analysts said spending in the United States is expected to rise by 12 percent to $79 billion, while Canadian budgets will rise by 23 percent to $23 billion.
Outside North America, spending is expected to rise 10 percent to $337 billion, largely driven by national oil companies, the analysts said.
Spending on exploration and production is heavily dependent on oil and gas prices, and is the key driver of revenues for oilfield services companies such as Schlumberger Ltd (SLB.N), Halliburton Co (HAL.N) and Baker Hughes Inc (BHI.N).
Oil prices had peaked above $147 a barrel in July 2008 before crashing to near $30 in December that year, forcing energy companies to shelve many new projects in an industry-wide round of belt-tighening.
For the 2010 survey, companies were basing their spending projections on a U.S. crude oil price of $70.16 per barrel, up from the $50.18 level that they used for the previous survey that was issued in June.
The average natural gas price for the 2010 budgets was $5.21 per thousand cubic feet, up from $4.68 in the middle of the year.
Barclays said about 45 percent of the companies surveyed expect to spend a greater share of their capital expenditures on exploration and production in 2010.
"This is a positive for seismic and major oil service companies," the analysts wrote in their report. (Reporting by Matt Daily; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn, Dave Zimmerman)
