U.S. shale production is poised to slow down this year as drillers reduce their budgets in response to lower oil prices, the head of the world’s largest oil-field services company said Friday.

Schlumberger Ltd. Chief Executive Paal Kibsgaard said on a call with investors that the recent decline in oil prices had prompted a more conservative approach among the world’s oil producers, a dynamic he said was particularly pronounced in the U.S.

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