U.S. energy companies are shrugging off a 24 percent plunge in oil prices , confident they can adapt and still make money. Amid predictions that the biggest drop in crude prices since the global financial crisis six years ago will choke off cash flow and slow drilling, industry leaders are reassuring investors they still have the means to return ample profits. Improved technology is bringing down costs and most shale producers operate in multiple basins, allowing them to shift work to the most profitable sites. The industry is used to price swings, Halliburton Co. (HAL) Chairman and Chief Executive Officer David Lesar said in an interview in his Houston office. When prices climb above $100 a barrel, oil companies are “printing money like crazy,” he said. When prices fall below $80, the “doomsdayers start to come out. ‘‘If it floats between $80 and $100, our sector will be fine,’’ […]