August 12, 2019 [Houston Chronicle] – Marathon Oil reported a quarterly profit of $161 million that jumped by two-thirds from a year ago as the Houston oil company grew its production volumes and kept its spending flat.

 
Marathon also said it is increasing its share buyback program by $950 million up to $1.5 billion.
 
The Houston producer is continuing to lean heavily on its more mature oil and gas production in South Texas’ Eagle Ford shale and North Dakota’s Bakken shale while growing slowly in West Texas’ booming Permian Basin.
 
“We believe our unwavering commitment to capital discipline and low enterprise break-even oil price delivers success across a wide range of commodity price environments,” said Marathon Chief Executive Lee Tillman.

The company produced 435,000 barrels of oil equivalent worldwide in the second quarter with nearly half of those volumes coming from the Eagle Ford and Bakken. Marathon’s output was just above the company’s previous guidance.

The company’s annual $2.4 billion development capital budget remains unchanged.

 
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