• 3 minutes e-car sales collapse
  • 6 minutes America Is Exceptional in Its Political Divide
  • 11 minutes Perovskites, a ‘dirt cheap’ alternative to silicon, just got a lot more efficient
  • 1 hour GREEN NEW DEAL = BLIZZARD OF LIES
  • 8 hours How Far Have We Really Gotten With Alternative Energy
  • 10 hours If hydrogen is the answer, you're asking the wrong question
  • 4 days Oil Stocks, Market Direction, Bitcoin, Minerals, Gold, Silver - Technical Trading <--- Chris Vermeulen & Gareth Soloway weigh in
  • 6 days The European Union is exceptional in its political divide. Examples are apparent in Hungary, Slovakia, Sweden, Netherlands, Belarus, Ireland, etc.
  • 23 hours Biden's $2 trillion Plan for Insfrastructure and Jobs
  • 5 days "What’s In Store For Europe In 2023?" By the CIA (aka RFE/RL as a ruse to deceive readers)
Tsvetana Paraskova

Tsvetana Paraskova

Tsvetana is a writer for Oilprice.com with over a decade of experience writing for news outlets such as iNVEZZ and SeeNews. 

More Info

Premium Content

Shale Executive: US Production Rebound Will Lead To New Oil Price War

The U.S. oil industry faces a new oil price war if shale production rebounds next year by rising 1 million bpd compared to this year, Scott Sheffield, chief executive at shale giant Pioneer Natural Resources, said at BloombergNEF’s annual summit.  

Last year, the OPEC+ group broke up their production pact in March after demand started crashing in the pandemic and U.S. crude oil production had hit 13 million bpd in the weeks prior to the start of the pandemic.

“OPEC and Russia were upset that we grew too much,” Sheffield said at the summit. “If we ever start growing again too much, we’re going to have another price war,” the shale executive added.

Sheffield continues to believe—as he did earlier this year when Saudi Arabia surprised the market with an extra cut of 1 million bpd—that U.S. oil production will not surge again because operators are very much aware of the consequences of soaring output and will continue to keep disciplined spending.

“If we grow another million barrels a day next year, we’re going to have another price war in my opinion going into ‘23,” Sheffield told the BloombergNEF summit.

One million bpd growth is basically the increase the EIA predicts for U.S. crude oil production in 2022 compared to the average for Q2 2021. As per EIA’s latest estimates, U.S. oil production is set to increase from an average 10.9 million bpd in the second quarter to nearly 11.4 million bpd by the fourth quarter. In the fourth quarter next year, U.S. oil production is expected to average above 12 million bpd—at 12.18 million bpd.   Related: Oxford Institute: Don't Expect A Supercycle In Oil

Pioneer’s Sheffield, however, said he was “totally against” that forecast, noting that he believes U.S. shale would maintain the pledges to not rush to boosting output.

Large listed producers promise restraint, and the market, and even OPEC+, believe restraint will indeed be the case for the U.S. oil industry this year. However, $60 oil makes boosting production too tempting for the private operators, since higher production and cash flows help them grow and pay off debts, without Wall Street breathing down their necks whether they are spending within their means.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

ADVERTISEMENT

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:


Download The Free Oilprice App Today

Back to homepage





Leave a comment
  • Mamdouh Salameh on April 15 2021 said:
    If US shale oil drillers return to the bad old habits of producing recklessly and undermining OPEC+ efforts to support oil prices, then OPEC+ will have no alternative but to retaliate by going for a market share strategy causing oil prices to fall sharply thus leading to a collapse in shale oil production.

    OPEC+’s management of the supply and demand balances in the global oil market has earned it the respect of the world including US shale producers. Let us hope that Shale producers will behave sensibly rather than upset the applecart.

    Dr Mamdouh G Salameh
    International Oil Economist
    Visiting Professor of Energy Economics at ESCP Europe Business School, London

Leave a comment




EXXON Mobil -0.35
Open57.81 Trading Vol.6.96M Previous Vol.241.7B
BUY 57.15
Sell 57.00
Oilprice - The No. 1 Source for Oil & Energy News