As crude prices slide toward $25 a barrel, many oil companies have little choice but to start making even the steepest cost cuts they have avoided up until now, jettisoning every well that can't break even or isn't needed to keep the lights on, according to a Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review analysis today. "Folks are coming to grips with the reality," said Dennis Cassidy, managing director at consulting firm AlixPartners, of the 20-month-and counting oil bust that many now fear will wipe out profits in 2016. U.S. and Canadian producers are losing at least $350 million a day at current prices, according to an AlixPartners analysis. Some Canadian companies are now warning they may be forced to shut down older oil-sands sites if prices fall even further. "For the month of January we did not make any money on our oil sands," said Brian Ferguson, CEO of Canadian producer Cenovus Energy Inc., in an interview. The U.S. benchmark oil price lost $1.24 a barrel on Thursday to settle at $26.21, down nearly 30 percent since the start of the year. Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, fell 78 cents to $30.06, a 20 percent drop so far this year.
