Big oil firms the casualty in Opec's shale war

London

WHEN Opec started a price war last November, driving oil down to its current US$65 a barrel, US shale drillers looked doomed. Six months later, it's the world's largest oil companies that are emerging as the unexpected casualties.

The reason: the multibillion-dollar projects at the heart of the oil majors' strategy need prices closer to US$100 to make them economically feasible.