The Prelude, a floating LNG tanker, is one of the first to test a new… The world’s largest energy companies are sidelining big ideas that they touted just a couple of years ago as the future of the industry. Shell hammered home the message on Wednesday after reporting first-quarter profits that were down 83% from the same period a year before. The Anglo-Dutch oil giant said it would cut its capital spending budget another 10%, to $30 billion this year. “To be brutally honest, any large new greenfield investment whether floating LNG, deepwater or elsewhere is under very strict critical review for cost levels and return simply because of where the industry is,” Shell Chief Financial Officer Simon Henry said in a conference call. As of March, the oil industry has deferred or canceled $270 billion in projects since crude prices began crashing nearly two years ago, according to […]