The WSJ reports here that shale oil production is growing faster this year than it did when oil was at $100 per barrel. The breakeven price for shale producers is now much lower than it was in 2014.
Shale producers “cut costs dramatically” during the nearly three-year-long oil industry downturn, the IEA said. They then took advantage of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries cartel’s decision to cut its own output, which helped prices rise from the low $40s to over $70 a barrel as recently as late last month.
“All the indicators that suggest continued fast growth in the U.S. are in perfect alignment,” the IEA said.
The result has been a series of milestones for U.S. oil production, which surpassed 10 million barrels a day for the first time since 1970 and is now higher than Saudi Arabian output. The IEA said the U.S. could catch up with Russia this year, the world’s biggest producer at 11 million barrels a day.
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