{"id":2950,"date":"2014-12-13T13:53:28","date_gmt":"2014-12-13T18:53:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=2950"},"modified":"2014-12-13T13:53:28","modified_gmt":"2014-12-13T18:53:28","slug":"big-oil-slashing-spending-amid-low-prices","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=2950","title":{"rendered":"Big Oil Slashing Spending Amid Low Prices"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/oilprice.com\/Energy\/Crude-Oil\/Big-Oil-Slashing-Spending-Amid-Low-Prices.html\">Big Oil Slashing Spending Amid Low Prices<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 1em; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 1em 0px; border: 0px initial initial;\">Oil prices continue to slide in mid-December, slumping towards another key threshold of $60 per barrel.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 1em; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 1em 0px; border: 0px initial initial;\">Oil prices hit a\u00a0<a style=\"font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: #24606c; text-decoration: underline; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/news\/2014-12-10\/wti-crude-declines-as-iran-sees-further-slump-on-opec-division.html\">five-year low<\/a>\u00a0on December 10. While many major oil players have gone to lengths to assure markets that they can weather the price downturn \u2013 and indeed it is far from clear how long the current price collapse will last \u2013 low prices are clearly starting to have an impact on major investment decisions. Drilling permits\u00a0<a style=\"font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: #24606c; text-decoration: underline; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/oils-fall-puts-a-chill-on-u-s-drilling-1418256933\">dropped<\/a>\u00a0by 36 percent between October and November, and the number of rigs in operation continues to fall.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 1em; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 1em 0px; border: 0px initial initial;\">Many oil companies are beginning to pare back capital expenditures, reconsidering pouring billions of dollars into expensive projects that may or may not be profitable in the current environment.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 1em; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 1em 0px; border: 0px initial initial;\">ConocoPhillips\u00a0<a style=\"font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: #24606c; text-decoration: underline; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;\" href=\"http:\/\/oilprice.com\/Latest-Energy-News\/World-News\/Lower-Spending-By-ConocoPhillips-May-Mean-Higher-Oil-Prices.html\">announced<\/a>\u00a0on December 8 that it would slash capital expenditures in 2015 by 20 percent, dropping its spending budget to $13.5 billion. And in a sign that the oil price slump is starting to take a major toll on future investments, ConocoPhillips\u00a0<a style=\"font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: #24606c; text-decoration: underline; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.reuters.com\/article\/2014\/12\/08\/conocophillips-capex-idUSL3N0TS46Y20141208?rpc=401\">said<\/a>\u00a0that it would \u201cdefer significant investment\u201d on its projects that are in their earlier stages, such as its fields in the Montney and Duvernay in Canada, along with its holdings in the Permian basin and the Niobrara.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 1em; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 1em 0px; border: 0px initial initial;\"><a style=\"font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: #24606c; text-decoration: underline; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;\" href=\"http:\/\/oilprice.com\/Energy\/Energy-General\/Who-Comes-Out-On-Top-After-Oil-Pandemonium.html\"><strong style=\"font-weight: bold;\"><span style=\"font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: #800000; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;\">Related:\u00a0Who Comes Out On Top After Oil Pandemonium?<\/span><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 1em; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 1em 0px; border: 0px initial initial;\">BP is also hoping to cut costs. It expects to lay off workers and\u00a0<a style=\"font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: #24606c; text-decoration: underline; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/bp-to-book-1-billion-of-restructuring-charges-1418202585\">trim spending<\/a>, perhaps by as much as $2 billion. It is unclear how much spending the oil major already had planned to cut, as it continues to downsize after steep losses stemming from the Deepwater Horizon disaster in 2010, but a company\u00a0<a style=\"font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: #24606c; text-decoration: underline; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2014\/12\/11\/business\/bp-to-cut-jobs-as-price-of-oil-falls.html?_r=0\">spokesman<\/a>\u00a0said the drop in oil prices \u201chas increased our focus on these activities.\u201d In an investor presentation, BP said that it usually approves new projects when oil prices are at $80 or higher.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 1em; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 1em 0px; border: 0px initial initial;\"><!-- [if gte mso 9]><xml>\n <w:WordDocument>\n  <w:Zoom>0<\/w:Zoom>\n  <w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>0<\/w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>\n  <w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>0<\/w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>\n  <w:UseMarginsForDrawingGridOrigin\/>\n <\/w:WordDocument>\n<\/xml><![endif]--> <!--StartFragment--><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span style=\"font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: LucidaGrande; color: #282828;\">&#8230;click on the above link to read the rest of the article&#8230;<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 1em; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 1em 0px; border: 0px initial initial;\"><!--EndFragment--><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Big Oil Slashing Spending Amid Low Prices. Oil prices continue to slide in mid-December, slumping towards another key threshold of $60 per barrel. Oil prices hit a\u00a0five-year low\u00a0on December 10. While many major oil players have gone to lengths to assure markets that they can weather the price downturn \u2013 and indeed it is far [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[103,1892,1278,1775,1875],"class_list":["post-2950","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-energy-2","tag-canada","tag-conocophillips","tag-oil-industry","tag-oil-price-collapse","tag-shale-industry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2950","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2950"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2950\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2951,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2950\/revisions\/2951"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2950"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2950"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2950"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}