Imagine you’re on a journey, and you have a couple of rivers to cross. At the first, there is an evenly spaced series of stepping stones, close to one another, and you move swiftly across. At the second, the stepping stones are set farther apart, the jump to each successive stone is wider, and with each attempt you recognize there’s a risk you won’t make it to the other side.

That’s the image that came to mind after listening to Schlumberger CEO Paal Kibsgaard, who on the company’s latest quarterly conference call talked of “timing gaps.” Like the longer leaps between stepping stones, the risk facing the energy sector is one of wider “timing gaps” occurring between a commodity price recovery and subsequent anticipated improvements in oil and gas investments and oilfield service activity—and all depending on the sector’s remaining financial strength.

“In spite of the need for the industry to increase investment levels to mitigate the pending impact on global supply, we instead see an increasing likelihood of a timing gap between the expected improvement in oil prices and the subsequent increase in E&P investments and oilfield service activity,” said the Schlumberger CEO. “There will be a delay between an improvement in oil prices and the decision to increase budgets, and there’s going to be a further delay between increasing budgets and realizing higher oilfield activity and higher production.”

Kibsgaard cited this as a contributing factor in Schlumberger’s decision to implement a further round of capacity and overhead reductions, resulting in a restructuring charge in the fourth quarter.

Remember, this is Schlumberger speaking. As the largest oilfield service provider, with operations spanning the globe, it typically can color its outlook with at least one or two areas where operations are developing positively. In contrast, several analysts characterized the Schlumberger outlook as “grim,” portending tough times for an industry whose players for the most part have fewer strategic options and only a fraction of the balance sheet strength as compared to Schlumberger.

Recent conference calls outlined the major moves some players are making as they plan for an increasingly uncertain future—even among players whose prospects of making it to the other side are hardly in doubt.

In late October, ConocoPhillips said it had made a strategic decision to exit deepwater exploration activities entirely by 2017, having earlier started to scale back operations. This could be a two-edged sword, according to Barclays analyst Paul Cheng.

While it would save $500 million in capex per year, it would “possibly rob the company of an important source of resource growth over the long term,” said Chang. “Since it is impossible to rebuild an entire deepwater program in a short period of time, Conoco’s decision will lead to a total exit from the deepwater at least through the next 10 to 15 years.”

Occidental Petroleum Corp. has opted to exit the Bakken, reportedly selling to Lime Rock Partners for about $600 million. “We just don’t see how it competes for capital,” said Occidental CEO Steve Chazen. “With this $600 million we could run four to five rigs in the Permian for a year and generate more production.”

Cuts in capex have been substantial. In the majors, Chevron Corp. surprised some analysts with how deeply it cut projected 2016 capex, dropping it to $25- to $28 billion, or 24.2% lower at the midpoint from this year’s estimated $35 billion. Depending on market conditions, Chevron said capex could fall further to $20- to $24 billion for 2017-2018.

Independent Hess Corp. has announced a 27% cut in estimated 2016 capex to $2.9- to $3.1 billion, down from forecasted expenditures in 2015 of $4.1 billion. At that level, Hess projected its production in 2016 would drop 8.7% from its estimated 2015 level.

Royal Dutch Shell has laid out perhaps some of the broadest strokes of how it is reconfiguring itself, with the purchase of BG Group, the halt of its Arctic exploration “for the foreseeable future,” and the suspension of its Carmon Creek in situ oil sands program under construction. And it is combining three assets—its shales, heavy oil and Arctic—into a newly-formed organization entitled “Unconventional Resources,” which some suggest could be the precursor to a North American spinoff.

These are major steps by some of the largest players. Could the very depth of these measures signal a bottom in sentiment? Who knows for sure, but a couple of the biggest players—ExxonMobil Corp. and Chevron—saw their stocks rise by 10% and 15%, respectively, in the month of October.