According to the quarterly results announced during the past few weeks, major oil companies have reported a mediocre performance for last year, as far as exploration and production of crude oil and natural gas reserves is concerned. At the same time, companies have also reduced their capital spending budgets for this year, which might exacerbate their lower production problem. Over the last decade, some of the biggest oil companies have seen their production drop and their growth of reserves stutter, even though oil price was going up for the most part. Royal Dutch Shell plc (ADR) ( NYSE:RDS.A ), BP plc (ADR) ( NYSE:BP ), ConocoPhillips ( NYSE:COP ), Exxon Mobil Corporation ( NYSE:XOM ), and Chevron Corporation ( NYSE:CVX ) are five of the biggest global oil and gas companies, which saw their production drop 3.25% year-over-year (YoY) on […]