BHP plans to cut investment further December 10, 2013 - 9:59AM BHP Billiton chief executive Andrew Mackenzie has underlined the mining giant's push to improve productivity, saying the drive to generate more volume from existing facilities and lower unit costs would further reduce cash costs and increase returns from investment. "The company's productivity agenda has the potential to create more value than anything else we do," Mr Mackenzie said in a statement for an investor briefing in Houston. By generating more volume from our existing equipment and lowering unit costs, we will continue to build on the $US2.7 billion reduction in controllable cash costs delivered in the 2013 financial year. Mr Mackenzie said BHP was pursuing a higher rate of return on investment by increasing competition between businesses for capital and driving project costs down. He said BHP was planning a 25 per cent cut in capital and exploration spending this financial year, while investment would fall again in 2014-15. BHP kept its production guidance unchanged, forecasting growth of 16 per cent in copper equivalent terms over the next two years. Mr Mackenzie's presentation came on the first day of a two-day investor briefing focusing on BHP's growing petroleum business. BHP said it would continue to streamline its business, and had completed six transactions since the start of the 2013 financial year, generating proceeds of $US6.5 billion.