ConocoPhillips Cuts Budget Again Amid Oil Slump

U.S. oil producer ConocoPhillips reported a bigger-than-expected quarterly loss and cut its 2016 budget for the third time this year amid a crude oil slump that has lasted for two years.

ConocoPhillips, whose shares were down 1.7 percent in premarket trading, cut its capital budget to $5.5 billion from $5.7 billion.

Global oil prices have slumped 60 percent since mid-2014, prompting oil producers to scale back drilling and severely curtail spending.

ConocoPhillips said its total realized price fell to $27.79 per barrel of oil equivalent (boe) in the second quarter from $39.06 per boe, a year earlier.

The company's production dipped by 49,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boe/d) to 1.546 million boe/d due to the impact of wildfires in Canada among other things.

ConocoPhillips's net loss widened to $1.07 billion, or 86 cents per share, in the second quarter ended June 30 from $179 million, or 15 cents per share, a year earlier.

Excluding items, the company lost 79 cents per share, well above the average analyst estimate of 61 cents, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

(Reporting by Vishaka George in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel and Anil D'Silva)