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Thursday, February 5, 2015

Oil majors fail to find reserves to counter falling output, (NYSE: COP), (NYSE: XOM)

Big oil companies had a poor record of finding and producing oil and gas last year, according to figures out in the past week - and big cuts in spending in response to falling crude prices could undermine their plans to turn that around.Four of the world's six biggest oil firms by market value - Royal Dutch Shell, Chevron, BP and ConocoPhillips - released provisional figures showing together they replaced only two-thirds of the hydrocarbons they extracted in 2014 with new reserves.Combined, those four and industry leader Exxon Mobil posted an average drop in oil and gas production of 3.25 percent last year.All predict their output will increase and new reserves will be added in coming years. But the 2014 results echo longer-term trends.

ConocoPhillips is an independent exploration and production (E&P) company. Shares of COP fell by 2.76% or $-1.87/share to $65.87. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $60.64 and as high as $87.09. On average, 9100810 shares of COP exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 12243308.

Exxon Mobil Corporation (ExxonMobil) is a manufacturer and marketer of commodity petrochemicals, including olefins, aromatics, polyethylene and polypropylene plastics and a wide variety of specialty products. Shares of XOM fell by 0.86% or $-0.79/share to $91.46. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $86.03 and as high as $104.76. On average, 15815600 shares of XOM exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 19632418.



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