By Anna Driver
HOUSTON, July 30 (Reuters) - The stark reality of amuch-feared second dip in crude prices is prompting global oilmajors and nimble U.S. shale companies alike to axe spendingonce again a year after the first price crash started.
Just days into the second-quarter earnings season, ChevronCorp and Royal Dutch Shell Plc said they wouldslash a combined 8,000 thousand jobs around the world.
In North Dakota, Whiting Petroleum Corp, the topproducer in the No. 2 U.S. oil patch, cut its capitalexpenditure budget days after optimistically raising it 15percent on bets the renewed downturn in prices would be atemporary blip.
ConocoPhillips, the largest U.S. independent,trimmed its 2015 budget for the third time on Thursday, by $500million to $11 billion.
More ominously, Linn Energy LLC, a smallexploration and production company, suspended its quarterlydistribution to investors on Thursday to conserve precious cashthat has largely evaporated on the price drop. Its shares fell26 percent.
Conoco CEO Ryan Lance said the company was preparing for"lower, more volatile prices."
Crude prices have been on a roller coaster since mid-2014,when global oversupply started to chip away at levels higherthan $100 a barrel. After hitting a bottom of $42 in March, U.S.crude rallied to around $60 in May, providing some breathingroom to shale companies that saw a dramatic reduction in cashflow.
But since June 23, when the latest rout started, oil hastumbled about 20 percent to around $49 a barrel. The second diphas dashed hopes raised in May that prices would hold steady ataround $60 a barrel or inch towards $65, a level that many U.S.shale oil producers have said would allow them to add drillingrigs and emerge from their defensive crouch.
Indeed, Whiting now plans to spend $2.15 billion this year,running eight drilling rigs instead of a previous plan for 11.
Anadarko Petroleum Corp said chasing growth in thisenvironment would be make no sense.
"It just seems unlikely that we will have the kind ofmargins that we have seen historically that would encourage usto go back into a growth mode," Anadarko CEO Al Walker toldinvestors on Wednesday, while holding off on cutting its budgetagain.
Weaker companies are in a tougher spot as they weigh cuttingspending, selling more high-yield bonds or issuing more sharesto cope with the loss of cash from low oil and gas prices.
"All (exploration and production) companies have to beconsidering their capital programs," said Matthew Miller, oilanalyst with S&P Capital IQ.
EASY MONEY OVER
The easy money that the helped even highly leveragedcompanies keep drilling in the first half of the year may alsobecome more scarce, another hurdle for the battered sector.
"This 'shale' capital was attracted by the promise ofimproving returns," a scenario that has faded, said equityanalysts at Nomura.
In addition to tightening capital markets, oil and gascompanies, will likely see bankers cut funding for credit linesduring so-called borrowing base re-determinations in October.
Small natural gas shale company EXCO Resources Inc said on Monday its lenders cut its credit lines by 17 percent,resulting in a hit to the Dallas company's available liquidity.
"We expect fall's re-determination period to be morepunitive than the spring's," analysts at Tudor Pickering said onTuesday.
That could signal more job cuts, which Conoco said were instore.
Globally, more than 160,000 jobs in the industry have beenshed over the last year, said Tobias Read, CEO of SwiftWorldwide Resources, which provides contract engineers to oilcompanies. (Reporting by Anna Driver; editing by Terry Wade and BillRigby)
