From Fairfax excerpt - "Oil producers brace for more cuts and...

From Fairfax excerpt -
"Oil producers brace for more cuts and say Brent price could hit the $US20s"
January 8, 2016 - 5:02PM
Angela Macdonald-Smith
Energy Reporter
"If it got into the $US20s that would not surprise me," said Jim McKerlie, chairman of Drillsearch Energy, noting the latest declines reinforced the logic of the planned $380 million merger with Beach Energy.
Both Mr Botten (OSH) and Mr McKerlie predicted a fresh wave of M&A activity as stronger companies look to pick up assets from their financially stretched peers.
"I think oil prices over the next 12 months are going to put a lot of oil companies under stress," Mr Botten said. "More assets will be traded as certain companies get more desperate for cash."
Oil Search, which in October rejected a $11.6 billion takeover approach from Woodside Petroleum, has more than $US1.6 billion in funding and has "a lot of buttons to push and levers to pull to manage our business and still be profitable," he said.
The merged Beach-Drillsearch will weigh up investing itself in exploration and development against acquisitions, Mr McKerlie said.
"Sometimes it is better to buy someone else's folly where they have run out of money," he said. "It's all about getting those barrels of oil in your inventory so you can produce them at some point in time."
cheers