Chevron cuts spending by 24% as Big Oil feels the pinch

US supermajor Chevron will slash investment in 2016 as the oil price rout continues, announcing on Wednesday a reduction in spending to $26.6bn next year

Chevron is the first of the oil majors to unveil its 2016 spending programme, and its plans point to an extended period of austerity ahead for Big Oil as the lower-for-longer oil price mentality sets in. The company has said that spending could fall to as low as $20bn in 2017 and 2018 if oil prices don’t rebound, about half what the company spent in 2014. The capital expenditure cuts also highlight how far oil majors are willing to go to maintain their dividend payouts. Chevron has said that the dividend is its number one priority, and as revenues continue to fall that is increasingly coming at the expense of spending on exploration and production. The company is on pace to pay out around $8