BHP to Spend $1.4B On Oil Exploration This Year

BHP Billiton (NYSE: BHP), the world's largest mining company, said it plans to spend $1.4 billion this year on oil and natural gas, double the $577 million it spent last year.While the Anglo-Australian company is a mining giant with massive exposure to coal, copper, iron ore and other commodities, BHP is also one of the largest oil companies in the world and has shown in recent acquisitions it's looking to bolster its oil and gas exposure.In 2011, BHP paid $12.1 billion to buy Petrohawk Energy and spent $4.75 billion to purchase shale assets from Chesapeake Energy (NYSE: CHK). There has also been speculation BHP might be interested in acquiring Anadarko Petroleum (NYSE: APC), but there has been no mention of that rumor for several months.BHP's petroleum unit expects spending on U.S. shale to rise to about $6.5 billion in the year ending June 2020 from about $4.5 billion this year and an annual growth rate of at least 10 percent for the rest of the decade, according to Bloomberg. BHP says it's the seventh-largest independent oil company in the world.