Shale drillers eye return to growth as oil price picks up
Companies are holding off until prices recover to $65 per barrel
As oil prices have recovered in recent weeks, oil market watchers have been trying to work out when US shale producers might start turning on the taps again. They got some answers this week. EOG Resource' chief executive Bill Thomas told analysts that his company was still waiting on the sidelines, drilling wells but leaving them uncompleted, until prices recovered. But he added that if WTI prices stabilised at around $65 per barrel (b), EOG could resume "strong double-digit growth.'" Whiting Petroleum's chief executive James Volker said that his company, which is a leading producer in the Bakken, would probably started adding rigs if the oil price rose to around $70/b. EOG and Whiting are a
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