By Rhiannon Hoyle 
 

SYDNEY--BHP Billiton Ltd. (BHP.AU) plans to spend roughly US$900 million, or almost one-fifth of its total capital budget, exploring for commodities in the year through June, 2017, said the company's head of geoscience, Laura Tyler.

In the first nine months of its current fiscal year, BHP spent about US$516 million on petroleum and minerals exploration, according to its last quarterly report.

On Monday, Ms. Tyler said BHP's petroleum exploration program is focused on the Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean and off the coast of Western Australia, while it is exploring for copper in Chile, Peru, the U.S., Canada and Australia.

BHP has previously said it will invest more in its oil-and-gas and copper businesses after major expansions in iron ore and coal in recent years.

Ms. Tyler said BHP has reduced exploration operating costs by 70% since 2013.

 

Write to Rhiannon Hoyle at rhiannon.hoyle@wsj.com

 

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

June 26, 2016 19:02 ET (23:02 GMT)

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