The globe is shrinking for Exxon Mobil Corp. and Chevron Corp. as the two largest U.S. oil companies pull back on big international oil projects and concentrate on a handful of more lucrative assets closer to home.
The two fossil-fuel giants plan to spend most of their annual budgets in the Americas this year, with Chevron saying it will pour 70% of the capital allocated for production into oil fields in the U.S., Argentina and Canada, and Exxon saying it will spend a similar portion of its budget in the Permian Basin of New Mexico and West Texas, Guyana, Brazil and liquefied natural-gas projects.