LONDON, Sept 16 (Reuters) - Moody's lowered its outlook fora group of top oil and gas companies to negative on Wednesdaysaying the sharp drop in oil prices would weigh on revenue into2016.
With oil having shed more than half of its value since lastJune, companies such as Royal Dutch Shell, Exxon Mobil and Total have lowered their spending by up to20 percent, cutting thousands of jobs and reducing costs.
Further reductions will be needed next year, which will hurtcompanies' long-term production growth, Moody's said.
The sector's free cashflow, or revenue minus spending anddividends, was negative in 2014 as a result of high costs and isexpected to plummet to a negative $80 billion in 2015 and onlyslightly improve in 2016 to $55 billion, the ratings agencysaid.
Moody's has lowered its oil price outlook several timessince 2014. It currently expects benchmark Brent crude oil toaverage $55 per barrel in 2015 and $57 a barrel in 2016.
Moody's expects companies to sell $40-$60 billion of assetsin 2015-2016 to improve cashflow after divesting $70 billion in2013 and 2014.
Among oil majors, Moody's sees the outlook as stable forExxon, Total, Chevron, Statoil, Eni MI>and OMV while the outlook for Shell and Repsol is negative. BP stands alone with a positiveoutlook. (Reporting by Ron Bousso; editing by Jason Neely)
