In a sign that U.S. energy producers think oil and gas prices will languish through next year, several are slashing their already slimmed-down budgets even more. ConocoPhillips plans to cut spending next year by 55%, when compared with its 2014 budget, to $7.7 billion. Marathon’s 60% cut to a $2.2 billion budget for 2016 is even steeper. In theory, such limited budgets should take a bite out of production, but some companies predict that efficiency gains will allow them to pump more next year even as they spend significantly less on their operations. ConocoPhillips expects production to rise by as much as 3% in 2016. The longer it takes for U.S. oil production to fall, the longer crude prices will languish. The low-price trend has already triggered a massive wave of asset write-downs. Energy companies use commodity prices to estimate how much their oil-and-gas reserves in the ground are […]