Posted on 03/07/2022 3:46:06 AM PST by EBH
"In the back of everyone's minds is, 'When is it going to be [production] growth? . . . We have investors saying 'My gosh, if not now, when?' But for everyone saying that there's at least one other if not two others waiting to say, 'Gotcha! We knew that discipline would be shortlived.' We have learned our lesson," he told the Financial Times in February.
So, public shale drillers are still exercising restraint, largely because of investor considerations. After years of burning cash and issuing new stock to make ends meet, the industry is acutely aware that shareholders have run out of patience.
The oil price rally served an important purpose, then, in giving shale companies the means to start returning cash to their owners after the chaos of 2020. It also served an important purpose in boosting trust in the industry and its ability to deliver returns. It is, however, a precarious balance that may not survive over the long term.
Private drillers, on the other hand, have no shareholders to make happy. They do not have the constraints of their public sector players. And they are drilling. The Energy Information Administration said in its last Short-Term Energy Outlook that U.S. crude oil production could hit 12.6 million bpd on average next year: a record high.
With large shale producers sticking to their discipline guns, most of the increase would inevitably have to come from smaller, private players in the shale field. As already noted, they don't have shareholders to answer to. But they have got debts to pay off and cash to generate to insulate themselves from the next market crash.
(Excerpt) Read more at oilprice.com ...
Small, privately held shale drillers are increasingly drilling activity as they see a chance to significantly ramp up cash flow.
Pioneer CEO Sheffield: "Whether it's $150 oil, $200 oil, or $100 oil, we're not going to change our growth plans,"
Pioneer CEO Sheffield - What a real Patriot /SARC
One does not just turn the “taps” and out pops oil shale.
One does get anything to pop out unless you start the process.
One does not just turn the “taps” and out pops oil shale.
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Yep them taps include more than just opening up a valve.
AirheadOCommie is going to be very mad about this.
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