Energy giants hunker down to slash costs

Producers embark on major re-evaluations as hopes of quick turnaround fade

The world’s energy giants are increasingly cutting back in the face of slumping demand that they warn is not likely to pick up any time soon.

Little more than a year after oil jumped to its high of $147 (U.S.) a barrel, the industry is chopping spending and jobs, and mulling other measures that would affect investors.

Hopes of a quick return to good times in the oil patch have been punctured by natural gas prices, which have barely budged upward in recent quarters, and crude prices, whose partial recovery has been damaged by the global recession.

Some of the industry’s most influential voices now say the world shows no sign of regaining its energy appetite any time soon. As that view becomes more widespread, oil and gas companies