Big Oil makes biggest cost cuts in a generation to protect dividends

London

OIL companies are making the largest cost cuts in a generation to reassure investors. They're risking their own future growth.

From Chevron Corp to Royal Dutch Shell plc, producers are firing thousands of workers and cancelling investments to defend their dividends. Cutbacks across the industry total US$180 billion so far this year, the most since the oil crash of 1986, according to Rystad Energy AS, an Oslo-based energy consultant.

BP plc chief executive officer Bob Dudley said last week his "first priority" was payouts to shareholders. Chevron CFO Patricia Yarrington said that her company was committed to …