Factbox - U.S. oil and gas companies cut capex and rig plans as crude dips

(Reuters) - U.S. oil and gas producers are slashing capital spending plans for 2015, following a sharp decline in oil prices over the past six months.

ConocoPhillips (COP.N) said in early December it would cut its 2015 capital budget by 20 percent, or about $3 billion (2 billion pounds), marking the biggest spending cut by a U.S. oil and gas company in dollar terms.

Global crude prices (LCoc1) have more than halved since June due to oversupply and OPEC's refusal to cut its output ceiling.

The world's oil and gas exploration companies are expected to cut capital expenditures 17 percent this year, according to a survey by Cowen and Company released on Wednesday.

Global oil and gas exploration projects worth more than $150 billion are likely to be put on hold in 2015 as plunging oil prices render them uneconomic, according to data from Norwegian consultancy Rystad Energy.

There are two companies that are still bullish, however. Continental Resources Inc (CLR.N), while slowing spending, has exited all its hedges and told investors oil prices will soon recover. Hess Corp (HES.N) has boldly boosted its five-year production forecast.

(Reporting by Swetha Gopinath, Terry Wade, Kanika Sikka, Sneha Banerjee, Anannya Pramanick and Shubhankar Chakravorty; Editing by Feroze Jamal and Savio D'Souza)