Chevron Corp. is putting the brakes on all but one major oil project for the foreseeable future as collapsing crude prices make most new investments unprofitable. The world’s third-biggest oil explorer plans to reduce spending on drilling rigs, oil platforms and other developments by about 26 percent during the next two years to ensure it has ample cash for dividends, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer John Watson said on Tuesday. Aside from a multibillion-dollar expansion of Chevron’s Tengiz field in Kazakhstan, the only large projects the company will spend money on are those already under construction, Watson told a group of reporters after his annual strategy presentation to analysts in New York. Chevron is finalizing designs and acquiring camp beds for work crews in anticipation of making a formal investment decision this year, he said. “We need better prices for more long-cycle time projects,” Watson said, “Ultimately, prices have […]