Oil majors to turn in worst quarterly earnings

Operating cost: A worker walks towards the roof of a storage silo containing base oil at the Royal Dutch Shell Plc lubricants blending plant in Torzhok, Russia. n Tuesday, March 1, 2016. The company had operating costs of US14.70 a barrel last year when Brent crude averaged US53.60. – Bloomberg

LONDON: The world's biggest oil companies, set to report their worst quarterly earnings in more than a decade, are finding their cost-cutting efforts haven’t matched the decline in crude prices over the past two years.

While producers have been deferring projects, eliminating jobs and freezing salaries, the process will take three years to complete, according to Barclays Plc's Lydia Rainforth. In the meantime, profits are being hammered.