“The model has totally changed,” he said.Oil executives also argue that they are spending a lot of money on new oil and gas production but that inflation is undercutting their efforts. Exploration and production spending will rise by more than 20 percent this year but about two-thirds of that increase will go toward paying higher prices for labor, materials and services, among other costs, according to RBN Energy, a research firm based in Houston.“It is a bit of a sticker shock because we’re seeing inflation across the entire sector,” Jeff Miller, the chief executive of Halliburton, which drills wells and performs other services for oil companies, told analysts on a recent conferenc …
