Slow and steady wins the race, according to Chevron, a company that is actually increasing its US upstream capital budget this year. Chevron started slow in the Permian Basin and watched what other companies were doing while it honed its drilling strategy.

Now that oil prices are considerably lower than they were at the beginning of last year, companies have been forced to tighten their belts. But larger companies like Chevron with global project portfolios have more spending cut-back options than firms solely focused on one play or region.

“They been around so long that they don’t overreact and they don’t under-react,” said Kirk Edwards, the Odessa oilman who is CEO of Latigo Petroleum. “They didn’t go crazy the last few years. They have always been steady. So they might not have caught up like everyone else did at those times, but right now they are going to be getting ahead of everyone.” – As reported by Odessa American