Made In America: Oil Giants Chevron, ExxonMobil Slash 2016 Capital Budgets; Cut Oilfield Jobs

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OIL GIANTS CHEVRON, EXXONMOBIL SLASH 2016 CAPITAL BUDGETS; CUT OILFIELD JOBS: Chevron Corp. announced on Friday that it plans to cut its capital spending by 25% to between $25 billion to $28 billion in 2016, and at the same time will slash up to 7,000 jobs over the next two years.

The nation’s second-largest publicly traded integrated oil company made the announcement on Friday reporting third quarter profits of $2.04 billion, down 64% from $5.6 billion a year ago. ExxonMobil, the world’s largest oil company, also cut its spending by 22% after third quarter profits fell by 48%.

CANADIAN TIMBER GIANT COMPLETES ACQUISITION OF ANTHONY FOREST OF EL DORADO: Vancouver, Canada-based Canfor Corp. completed its acquisition of Anthony Forest Products Company (AFP) of El Dorado on Friday, Oct. 30. The family-owned AFP operates six facilities including a sawmill and laminating plant in Arkansas, a laminating plant in Georgia, two chip plants and an I-joist plant through a 50/50 joint venture. Canfor announced on Sept. 28 that it was purchasing the Arkansas family-owned timber company for $93 million.

MISSISSIPPI CELEBRATES FIRST U.S. SILICON PLANT IN FOUR DECADES; $200 MILLION FACILITY BEGINS PRODUCTION: Mississippi Silicon officials and State of Mississippi leaders celebrated the grand opening last week of the $200 million Mississippi Silicon plant, a 170,000-square-foot facility that sits on 94 acres in Tishomingo County, located in Northeast Mississippi. The Mississippi Silicon plant is the first silicon metal manufacturing facility to be built in the United States in more than 40 years.

Silicon is used in thousands of products ranging from computer chips to automotive manufacturing to chemicals used in industrial, commercial and consumer applications. The plant, which began start-up operations in late September, is a joint venture between the Vicintin family of Brazil and CleanTech LLC, an investment partnership that includes a group of strategic investors and financial advisers.

OCTOBER NEW, USED CAR SALES TO REACH $1.2 TRILLION IN 2015: TrueCar Inc. recently projected that total new vehicle sales, including fleet deliveries, will hit 1,427,500 units in October, an 11.4% increase from a year ago and the most for the month since 2001. The expected double-digit growth will push the seasonally adjusted annualized rate (SAAR) for total light vehicle sales to 17.9 million units compared to 16.6 million units a year ago. Continued consumer confidence coupled with attractive model year-end sales campaigns may boost retail sales 11.6% to 1,206,800 units. TrueCar projects total revenue from U.S. sales of new and used vehicles will rise 7% this year to an all-time industry record of $1.2 trillion. U.S. consumers will likely buy a total of 55.8 million new and used cars and light trucks in 2015, up 4.2% over 53.5 million in 2014.