ConocoPhillips said Thursday it was preparing for a sustained period of lower crude oil prices by making significant reductions in capital and operating costs. “We’re setting an operating plan for 2016 that recognizes the current environment, which remains challenging,” Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Ryan Lance said in a statement. The company’s overall capital budget of $7.7 billion is a 25 percent reduction in expected full-year capital spending for 2015. Chevron, which has headquarters in California, issued a similar budget forecast . Oil companies are trimming staff and spending less on exploration and production. The latest report from oil services company Baker Hughes shows drastic reductions in rig deployments across North America, a measurement used to […]