BP Sees $55-60 Oil for Next Five Years

BP CEO Bob Dudley said Tuesday he is not counting on oil prices rising much beyond their current levels for years to come.

"We are not planning on an uptick in the prices. We are going to plan on $55 to $60 per barrel oil ... for the next five years, and we are going to live within a strict capital diet," he said during an interview with CNBC.

For the British oil giant, that means keeping its capital spending program between $15 billion and $17 billion over the same period of time, Dudley added. That is roughly 30% below spending levels prior to the oil price crash in 2014, he said.

Oil prices rebounded above $50 a barrel after the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and 11 other exporters agreed to temporarily cut oil production by about 1.8 million barrels a day.

But the price bounce has made drilling more profitable for some American producers, leading to an upsurge in US output that has capped gains.

The OPEC-led cuts have not solved the challenges of a changing oil market, but they have made businesses more confident to invest, Dudley said. Despite spending less in the coming years, BP will start up new projects and keep costs down, he added.

"BP has quietly been getting ready. 2017 is a really important year for us. We have more new projects being commissioned than ever in the history of the company," he said.