Royal Dutch Shell will cut spending in its American exploration and production business by a fifth and could sell more of its shale assets, in another sign that oil majors are struggling to make profits in the booming sector.Oil and natural gas pumped from North American shale has boosted the fortunes of smaller energy firms, but the world's biggest oil companies, including BP and Exxon Mobil , have been slower to realise the full potential of the prolific rock.London-based BP announced last week it was spinning off its onshore U.S. oil and gas assets into a separate business to help it improve performance.Shell, which is already selling more than 700,000 acres of U.S. shale assets, said in a strategy update on Thursday that it would reduce spending in its American upstream business by 20 percent compared with last year.
Exxon Mobil Corporation is a manufacturer and marketer of commodity petrochemicals, including olefins, aromatics, polyethylene and polypropylene plastics and a range of specialty products. Shares of XOM traded higher by 0.21% or $0.2/share to $94.21. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $84.79 and as high as $101.74. On average, 12823700 shares of XOM exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 9705872.
Source
