Big international oil companies are currently generating more cash at around-US$50 oil price than they did when the price of oil exceeded US$100 in early 2014, Goldman Sachs reckons. “Simplification, standardization and deflation are repositioning the oil industry for better profitability and cash generation in the current environment than in 2013-14 when the oil price was above $100 a barrel,” Goldman Sachs analysts said in a research note on Wednesday, as quoted by Bloomberg . Cost cuts and refocusing strategies have allowed Big Oil to adapt to the lower-for-longer oil prices. At US$100 oil price, the majors were spending en masse on giant projects, but these mega projects are now coming online and are starting to produce oil, revenues, and cash, according to Goldman. At the same time, the big firms have slashed expenditure and costs since the price of oil started tumbling in the second half of 2014. […]