Oil majors’ $100 hangover to sink earnings

The world’s biggest oil companies, set to report their worst quarterly earnings in more than a decade, are finding their cost-cutting efforts haven’t matched the decline in crude prices the past two years.

While producers have been deferring projects, eliminating jobs and freezing salaries, the process will take three years to complete, according to Barclays’ Lydia Rainforth.

In the meantime, profits are being hammered.