Major international oil companies need Brent oil price to average $77 per barrel for their upstream portfolios to be cash flow neutral in 2015, said Wood Mackenzie on May 8.
Theglobalresearch and consulting company said international oil companies' net debtincreasedquarter-on-quarter due to the recent oil price slump.
Due to the decline in oil prices, which fell around 60 percent between June 2015 and Jan. 2015, many international oil companies reported massive losses in the past few weeks.
The U.S.' ExxonMobil and Chevron, Royal Dutch Shell, British Petroleum, French Total, Norway's Statoil, Italy's Eni, and Russian natural gas giant Gazprom were some of the big oil firms to report financial lossesin theirfirst quarterresultsdue to falling oil prices.
Wood Mackenzie said most oil firms managed to cut their costs, but emphasized that more cuts are needed.
"We believe further cuts across the sector are likely as the year unfolds," said the global research company.
However, the consulting firm warned "the rate of production growth is likely to slow during 2015 as low oil prices take effect."
(Anadolu Agency)
