Big oil producers to cut investment again in 2016

London

WITH crude prices at 11-year lows, the world's biggest oil and gas producers are facing their longest period of investment cuts in decades, but are expected to borrow more to preserve the dividends demanded by investors.

At around US$37 a barrel, crude prices are well below the US$60 firms such as Total, Statoil and BP need to balance their books, a level that has already been sharply reduced over the past 18 months.

International oil companies are once again being forced to cut spending, sell assets, shed jobs and delay projects as the oil slump shows no sign of recovery. US producers Chevron and ConocoPhillips have published plans to slash their 2016 budgets by a quarter. Royal Dutch Shell has also announced a further US…