Firms scramble to slash costs as crisis deepens

A slump in oil prices is forcing the oil and gas services industry for the first time in 15 years to trim costs in a way that executives say will create a lasting change away from their usual lavish way of doing business.

Navigating a new environment in which oil prices have halved in a year and their customers are slashing investments, oil service firms face a rough ride.

“The industry has been quite lazy in changing because oil prices have been helping us a lot,” Samir Brikho, chief executive of oil service engineering company Amec Foster Wheeler, told Reuters.