Among the major themes of upcoming cycle will be the recovery of US land drilling, offshore restructuring and more risk to service industries, Evercore analysts say. Despite their relative safety during the downturn, large integrated oil companies must make some moves to get higher returns and more investor support, analysts at Evercore ISI said in a Nov. 13 webinar that covered a wealth of industry concerns. Doug Terreson, senior managing director and head of energy research, said that during the last merger phase, which started in 1998, companies were focused on returns at the expense of growth. That lasted until 2008, when their capital spending per shareholder distributions increased and then returns declined. “Both internal and external initiatives are available to the management teams of the super majors, which would enhance their profile with investors in the equity market,” he said. He noted that ConocoPhillips in 2009 and early […]