Chevron Corp. slashed its drilling budget by the most in 12 years and said it may delay some shale projects as energy producers around the world hoard cash and curtail ambitions in response to free-falling oil prices. Other producers have cut more, with some oil companies announcing spending reductions of more than 50 percent in recent weeks. Chevron doesn’t have quite the flexibility of some other companies to cut spending in the near term, because they are still finishing some mega-projects,” said Brian Youngberg, an analyst at Edward Jones & Co.