Cost-cutting is set to remain the main focus for the oil industry for at least the next two years as petroleum producers adjust to an environment of much lower prices. If the boom was characterized by an emphasis on ambitious and complex engineering and technology projects, the downturn has brought a renewed focus on simplification and efficiency. It marks a return to what was called “operational excellence” during the long years of low oil prices in the 1990s. Operational excellence is about more than just short-term expenditure reduction. But not even the free fruit for employees at BP’s giant campus at Sunbury near London has been spared from the search for economies. The fruit is a good symbol of the industry’s approach to cost control: it was also axed during a previous cost-cutting drive in 2008 only to be restored when prices and revenues boomed again. But the […]