E&P companies have been revising their capital spending more dramatically in 2015 than first thought. According to Moody’s Investors Service, which has tracked statistics for the 108 North American companies it rates, E&Ps are cutting capex by an aggregate 41%.

The depth of the cuts being announced varies, however, by type of company. Companies rated lower than investment grade are cutting the most significantly because they are burdened by more debt or other challenges. Some 21% of Moody’s-rated E&P companies will reduce their capital budgets by more than 60% in 2015.

“We expect Moody’s-rated E&P companies to reduce capital spending by 41% in aggregate this year, with investment-grade issuers cutting spending by 36%, and speculative-grade firms by 47%,” said associate analyst Prateek Reddy.

“Investment-grade companies are generally able to access the capital markets, even when commodity prices are weak, but speculative-grade firms today have more limited financial flexibility.”

More than half of the 108 companies rated─or 56%─will reduce spending by at least 40%, and overall, 77% of them will cut capex by at least 20%, according to the report, “E&P Capital Budgets Cut in 2015 to Preserve Liquidity.”

By restricting capital spending to their highest-return assets and reducing development activity, the companies are seeking to preserve liquidity during the current low commodity price environment, Moody’s said.

Reddy said that among investment-grade issuers, on one end of the spectrum is Apache Corp. (rated A3 negative). It is planning to cut capital spending by more than 60% this year in order to keep spending within operating cash flow.

Five other large investment grade companies said they will reduce capex by a whopping 40% to 60%: Continental Resources, Noble Energy, Pioneer Natural Resources, Canadian Oil Sands and Canadian Natural Resources. Each is heavily weighted to oil production.

Only about 6% of rated E&P companies plan to increase capital spending this year, with no investment-grade firms among them. Some of this group will spend more to hold leased acreage or invest in recent acquisitions, and some produce mainly natural gas, for which prices have not dropped as much as they have for oil, Moody’s said.

“Unless they have hedging programs, E&P companies that concentrate more on producing oil and natural gas liquids will see more dramatic declines in earnings, unleveraged cash margins and cash-flow generation in 2015 than those that produce higher proportions of natural gas,” says Reddy. “As a result, liquids-focused E&P companies are reducing capital spending more than their gas-focused peers.”