Equinor slashes investment, spending in $3 bln coronavirus package

Norwegian oil firm Equinor will cut investments, exploration drilling and operating costs as part of a $3 billion plan to help the company weather the coronavirus crisis and low oil prices, it said on Wednesday.

Equinor will halt its onshore drilling in the United States, where the company has invested billions of dollars in recent years in producing oil and gas from shale formations, postponing the output to a later period, it added. The measures come in addition to the suspension earlier this week of the company's $5 billion four-year share buyback program, Equinor said.

The plan will allow Equinor's operations to be cash flow neutral in 2020 at an average oil price around $25 per barrel for the remaining part of the year, it added. Brent oil currently trades at around $28 per barrel.