“You need scale once you’re in development mode to be able to succeed at the margins that you have,” said Jeff Shellebarger, Chevron’s president of North America exploration and production. Size also helps larger companies weather volatility in the oil markets, where U.S. crude prices have plunged more than 20% in the past month to about $56 a barrel. The bigger companies kept spending in check as oil rallied earlier in the year, making them less vulnerable to the recent selloff. As a result, Exxon shares have fallen only 4% in the past 30 days, compared with the 17% decline in the index of smaller producers, according to FactSet. Smaller exploration and production companies recently reported their best third-quarter performance in five years, thanks to higher oil prices earlier in the year. Of 27 independent producers, 23 were profitable, including EOG Resources Inc. and Continental Resources Inc. The companies’ […]