Caution reigns in US shale
Even amid climbing oil prices and strong market backwardation, most US shale independents show little scope or intent to raise output in the short term
“We are not going to change our growth rate, whether oil is at $100/bl or $150/bl”, says Scott Sheffield, CEO of Texan independent Pioneer Natural Resources. Similarly, Houston-based independent Marathon Oil forecasts flat production in 2022 and admitted it is “not allocating any production growth capital in 2022”. Mike Henderson, executive vice-president of operations at Marathon, adds “I want to make clear that, should commodity prices continue to surprise to the upside, we will remain disciplined and have no plans to allocate production growth capital.” Some firms are even warning of production declines despite WTI breaching $90/bl in February and rapidly heading towards $130/bl in March.
Also in this section
9 May 2024
Pipeline boosts Canada’s oil industry by widening its export options, making it less reliant on US market and bringing Asia into the mix
8 May 2024
Despite Australia’s first import terminal nearing completion, the prospect of additional regasification projects is far from certain
7 May 2024
Ample stocks and a soft demand outlook will limit how much LNG Europe can import this year