astuteinI have to agree 1000% that reducing capex just so they can afford to pay a dividend is simply nuts, as well as economic suicide. If a company doesn't spend on capex, how can they maintain production? It is the production that provides the cash flow to pay for capex, reclamation expenses, and the dividend after all.
It might work for a quarter in the hope that oil prices recover, hoping that the accumulated deficit can be made up later, but in the long term is a losing proposition.
And oil prices keep heading in the wrong direction, despite all of the protesting by the experts in the field like Eric Nuttall. The market can remain irrational far longer than most investors can remain solvent.