Running out of time Oil and gas producers have worked diligently to reduce the cost of their operations following the fall in crude oil prices at the end of 2014. Without $100 oil, E&P companies the world over were forced to find ways to cut costs in order to make their operations profitable. On the whole, producers have reduced opex per barrel by 9 percent, according to information from Wood Mackenzie, but a closer look shows that this is in large part due to Russia skewing the numbers. Russia has reduced opex by 30 percent, far exceeding the average. If it is removed from the data set, the average global reduction in opex is just 4 percent, and it still varies greatly by region. Canada has reduced opex by 18 percent, while Wood Mackenzie has U.S. onshore opex unchanged between 2014 and 2015. (Click to enlarge) The change in […]