text: A pumpjack operates above an oil well at night in the Bakken Formation on the outskirts of Williston, North Dakota. The most prolific shale drillers in Texas have cut at least $7.6 billion from their combined 2020 capital expenditures budgets while several more are expected to follow suit as crude oil prices fall to lowest levels since the bottom of the last oil bust, which was considered worst in a generation.