U.S. Shale Has Set An Example For Oil Majors

It took the oil supermajors quite a while to come to terms
with the new oil price realities. The blow from the 2014 price
crash was so severe and apparently unexpected that they needed two
years to start changing their tack. Luckily, Big Oil had a good
example to follow: shale boomers. True, a lot of independents
active in the U.S. shale patch went under during the crisis. True,
production costs are not exactly the same as Saudi Arabia’s, even
for the lowest-cost producers in the shale patch. And true, these
production costs are now rising…

It took the oil supermajors quite a while to come to terms
with the new oil price realities. The blow from the 2014 price
crash was so severe and apparently unexpected that they needed two
years to start changing their tack. Luckily, Big Oil had a good
example to follow: shale boomers. True, a lot of independents
active in the U.S. shale patch went under during the crisis. True,
production costs are not exactly the same as Saudi Arabia’s, even
for the lowest-cost producers in the shale patch. And true, these
production costs are now rising…