Persian Gulf oil producers are delaying oil projects and squeezing contractors for hundreds of millions of dollars in savings, as the pain from low crude prices spreads to state-owned energy companies struggling to pump at full tilt. Saudi Arabian Oil Co.—known as Saudi Aramco, the world’s largest crude producer—has pushed back by a year the startup of a $3 billion expansion project in an important field and delayed a liquefied natural gas export plan, according to Saudi industry officials. A $3 billion United Arab Emirates project that would boost the country’s production by 100,000 barrels a day is on hold until contractors offer cheaper terms, a UAE oil official said. And in Oman, the government has delayed $1.4 billion in contracts for special electric pumping, a critical technique for the sultanate’s low-pressure oil reserves, according to people familiar with the matter. The delays demonstrate how a protracted period of […]