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$TOT Pessimism is pervasive at the World Petroleum Congress

It could easily take until the end of the decade for better times to return to the oil industry that already has endured a longer than expected slump, Total (TOT -0.1%) CEO Patrick Pouyanne and Weatherford (WFT +2.2%) CEO Mark McCollum tell the World Petroleum Congress in Istanbul.

“Lower for longer is the new normal," with exploration slowing and producers outside U.S. shale areas not increasing their spending, says Baker Hughes (BHGE -0.3%) CEO Lorenzo Simonelli.

Dinesh Kumar Sarraf, chairman of India’s state-run Oil & Natural Gas Corp., says companies must even be prepared for a “lower forever oil price” - Brent crude currently trades for ~$47/bbl, less than half the level of three years ago.

"We have to remain very disciplined about spending and not assume that the price will go up," says BP's Bob Dudley, but "it's lower for longer, but not lower forever."

The most optimistic tone, at least for the longer term outlook, may have been struck by Halliburton (HAL +1.3%) Senior VP Mark Richard, who believes that sooner or later the market will catch up with the decline in spending.