Spend,spend,spend

摘要

Smaller companies credit it to buoyant oil and gas prices.Bigger operators blame it on galloping inflation and a dollar rapidly losing its head for heights.But,regardless of whether you see it as a blessing or a curse,upstream spending experienced another year of impressive growth in 2004 and looks set for more of the same this year.Growth in upstream capital expenditure(capex)last year was roughly three times greater than initially expected,according to the latest exploration and production(E&P)spending surveys by investment banks Lehman Brothers and Smith Barney.At the end of 2003,Lehman forecast a solid 4% increase in E&P capex during 2004,but has revised up its estimates to 12.4%.