Oil majors may need deeper cuts to oil and gas exploration and production spending as they grapple with an extended period of low crude prices. The industry is expected to reveal another set of grim earnings for the first quarter when benchmark Brent prices averaged $55 a barrel, almost half the level of a year ago. Exxon Mobil Corp., Royal Dutch Shell, BP and France’s Total have already responded by cutting 2015 capital spending by 10 to 15 percent, delaying and scrapping projects and cutting operating costs. And despite a sense among some industry executives that oil prices may have hit their 2015 lows following a decline in U.S. shale production, more cuts may be needed. Exxon, the world’s biggest listed oil company, has reduced 2015 capital spending by 12 percent to $34 billion. “We’ll see throughout the year whether we stay there (capex) or not, […]