According to a report by Financial Times, world's big energy groups have shelved $200bn of spending on new projects.

Most of the oil major including UK based BP, Anglo-Dutch Royal Dutch Shell, US based Chevron, Norway's Statoil, and Australia's Woodside Petroleum have halted plans for expansion, big production investments.

Canada is the biggest single region affected, with the development of some 5.6 billion barrels of reserves, having being halted.

This urgent round of cost-cutting came as the oil price slumps for a second time this year. WTI is currently trading at $47.6/barrel, down -1.2% for the day and Brent is trading at $53.8/barrel, down -1.5% for the day. Moreover latest stock market rout and weak data is pointing to further weakness in China.

Done deal (almost) with Iran and OPEC's (led by Saudi Arabia) refusal to cut production has started weighing on oil prices once more.

This news is particularly bad for oil bulls, as major producers are foreseeing long period of depressed price ahead.

WTI is likely to reach around $41/barrel and might even fall below $40/barrel mark in aggressive selling.