US oil out put approaching record volume because of shale

Bloomberg/Fuel Fix:
U.S. crude production forecasts keep growing.

The Energy Information Administration said domestic output will climb to a record 9.96 million barrels a day in 2018, up from 9.9 million barrels projected last month, according to the agency’s monthly Short-Term Energy Outlook released Tuesday. Production will average 9.31 million barrels a day in 2017, up from 9.22 million projected in April.

U.S. explorers have added rigs this year, partially undermining oil-production cuts that started in January by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and 11 other exporters. The nation’s active oil- rig count has more than doubled in the past year to 703 last week, according to Baker Hughes Inc. The lag between drilling and reaching maximum production signals that output will climb further in coming months, according to the report.

“Increased drilling-rig activity is expected to boost U.S. crude oil production this year and next,” EIA Acting Administrator Howard Gruenspecht said in an emailed statement. “Higher oil production from the United States, along with rising oil output from Canada and Brazil, is expected to curb upward pressure on global oil prices through the end of 2018.”
...
OPEC is coming to the realization that its previously largest customer is no longer going to be in the market for imported oil on the same scale it was before the shale revolution.  This also impacts non-OPEC petrostates like Russia that rely on oil income to operate their government and defense needs.

If US refiners can make the switch to refining light crude from the shale wells it will mean an even lesser need for heavy crude from the Middle East and Saudi Arabia.

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