Crescent Point cuts spending but maintains dividend & oil output

Crescent Point Energy Corp. plans a $1.45-billion capital budget for 2015, a 28 per cent decline from last year, as it waits for a recovery in oil and gas prices following the current downturn.

It's the the latest in a series of energy producers and oilfield services companies to reduce spending plans amid a recent plunge in the price of crude oil, which is at 5 1/2-year lows.

A North American benchmark crude future is currently worth less than $50 a barrel, down from a 2014 high of about $107 last summer.

The company said Tuesday it expects to increase capital spending when oil prices rebound. The company also pays $2.76 a year in a dividend, and in a release the company said the moves it has outlined will provide "long-term support" for the current dividend.

Despite planning to spend less next year, Calgary-based Crescent Point expects to increase average daily production to the equivalent of 152,500 barrels per day.

Crescent Point says its 2015 budget assumes a reduction of service costs, initially by 10 per cent and even more if the low oil price persists.