Deutsche Bank (mining analyst Paul Young) says that the crash in oil prices is expected to force BHP Billiton to cut about $US2 billion from its capital spend in its onshore US petroleum business over the next four years

Australian Financial Review with the headline (gated)

  • Expected to delay any increase in drilling rig numbers at its Permian Basin venture in Texas (until West Texas Intermediate crude recovers to $US80) and to defer infrastructure investment
  • BHP’s strategy of focusing its US onshore petroleum activities on oil and gas liquids has come under pressure from the fall in the price of benchmark crude oil prices to below $US65 a barrel

Deutsche expects the oil price to recover to $80 a barrel only in the 2018 financial year