BHP Billiton, the world’s largest miner and a top investor in U.S. oil and gas, said on Tuesday its U.S. shale business would break even from 2016, generating cash that would grow to almost $3 billion a year by the end of the decade. Analysts have voiced concern over the growing proportion of BHP’s spending being allocated to petroleum, where volumes and returns have proven disappointing for now. In a presentation to analysts in Houston, BHP said it was on track to hit its 2014 petroleum production target. It said a spending programme of $4 billion per year would help it hit a goal of increasing liquids production from its shale business to 200,000 barrels per day in 2017. The company sees total onshore U.S. production of 500,000 barrels of oil equivalent per […]