mybe these guys will take a runThe chief of Apache Corp said on Tuesday the U.S. independent energy company is looking to buy assets, citing low oil and gas prices. "We are paddling through the water looking for things to buy," Steven Farris, the chief executive of Apache, told the 2009 Howard Weil Energy Conference. Apache, which has more than $4 billion in cash and bank lines available, is scouting for oil and gas assets in areas where it already has operations, Farris said. Those includes Egypt, Argentina and the United States. Apache, which has acreage in the Horn River shale in northeastern British Columbia with its partner Encana Corp , is also shopping for shale in the United States, Farris told investors. "I'd be surprised if Apache did not have a shale play somewhere in the U.S." -- in the next year or two, Farris said, later adding that it would not be a large investment for the company. While some of its oil and gas peers including Devon Energy have said big acquisitions are off the table, Apache sees opportunity in the downturn, Farris said. Crude oil and natural gas futures have tumbled more than 60 percent since summer peaks as the global economic recession hit demand for energy. In response, many independent oil and gas companies have cut back on exploration spending. For example Apache used to have 11 rigs drilling on the shelf in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, but now it has two, Farris said. In its Ootla shale play in Horn River, Apache plans to drill 25 wells in 2009. The gross cost of building pipeline and processing plants to initially move gas in the remote region is estimated around $900 million, Farris said. Shares of Apache fell $3.30, or 4.5 percent to $67.50 on the New York Stock Exchange. That decline is in line with a 4 percent drop in the American Stock Exchange index of natural gas companies