Hess, Anadarko cite $60 mark in second-quarter earnings calls Oil companies cautious following last year’s false starts For U.S. oil drillers, $60 is the new $50. Earlier this year, oil and natural gas companies facing the worst slump in a generation said they’d need crude to reach $50 a barrel before resuming drilling. This week, despite higher prices and lower costs, the industry has raised the bar, signaling it will take $60 or better before meaningful production can resume. “The industry doesn’t want to ramp things up until they are fairly confident prices will hold up,” said Brian Youngberg, an energy analyst at Edward Jones in St. Louis, in a telephone interview. “I think the industry has learned that it needs to get away from this boom-bust scenario.” Al Walker, Anadarko Petroleum Corp.’s chief executive officer, is one energy industry leader waiting for that $60 mark. “The more we […]