A major US driller just announced a huge cut in its spending plans
Another energy company is scaling back because of the oil crash.
Consol Energy announced Friday that it is cutting its capital expenditure forecast for 2015 to $920 million from the $1.0 billion it announced January 30.
Here's an excerpt from their statement:
"The revised budget reflects a continued focus to high-grade the development plan to further reduce capital in a lower commodity price environment, while maintaining the E&P production growth target of 30% in 2015. In addition to reducing capital, CONSOL also continues to make significant progress on driving operating costs lower through cutting costs and implementing efficiency improvements with the goal of keeping its year-end 2015 leverage ratio flat, when compared to 2014."
Last month, Deutsche Bank forecast that energy companies would slash capex forecasts by 25% this year, and capex growth will decline 3% overall.
Oil prices are not recovering any time soon, according to a report from the International Energy Administration on Friday. West Texas Intermediate oil futures tanked as much as 3.5% to around $45.36 per barrel in trading.
US oil prices are under pressure as inventories continue to pile up; they are at the highest levels for this time of year in at least 80 years, according to the Energy Information Administration.