U.S. shale firms cut budgets, staff as oil-price outlook dims

ODESSA, Texas (Reuters) – Oil producers and their suppliers are cutting budgets, staffs and production goals amid a growing consensus of forecasts that oil and gas prices will stay low for several years.
The U.S. has 904 working rigs, down 14% from a year ago, and even that is probably too many, estimated Harold Hamm, chief executive of shale producer Continental Resources (CLR.N), which has reduced the number of rigs at work.
Bankruptcy filings by U.S. energy producers through mid-August this year have nearly matched the total for the whole of 2018. A stock index of oil and gas producers hit an all-time low in August, a sign investors are expecting more trouble ahead.
Read more here: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-oil-slump/us-shale-firms-cut-budgets-staff-as-oil-price-outlook-dims-idUSKCN1VR15P