Majors make cuts as oil price sparks tough times
Low prices and poor earnings mean the majors are cutting spending, jobs and projects
The latest poor set of earnings releases from the oil majors merely reinforce that there are tough times ahead for these companies that so often act as defensive stocks. All are cutting spending, jobs and projects; some will come out of it in better shape than others. At the heart of the problem was the 60% fall in the oil price from last June. The oil price has risen somewhat in the past few weeks to around $60 a barrel, but with weak oil demand persisting, few believe the price will recover in a sustainable way until the second half of the year, at the earliest. Further hitting the majors' profits is that oil is getting harder to find and more costly to extract, forcing them to stall proje
Also in this section
13 March 2026
Brussels is again weighing a cap on gas prices amid the Hormuz crisis, but the measure could backfire by deterring the LNG cargoes Europe urgently needs
12 March 2026
Emergency oil stocks provide a last line of defence to oil market shocks, so the IEA’s unprecedented 400m bl release represents something of a double-edged sword
12 March 2026
LPG could rapidly expand access to clean cooking across Africa and prevent hundreds of thousands of deaths from indoor air pollution each year, but infrastructure shortages and regulatory barriers are slowing investment and market growth
11 March 2026
Missiles over Dubai and disruption in Hormuz are testing the emirate’s reputation—and shaking the energy hub at the centre of the Gulf economy
