The U.S. is expected to reach the highest level of oil production in its history, exceeding levels seen in the early 1980s, Daniel Yergin, vice chairman of IHS Markit, said.
Speaking yesterday at the "Leading Through Change" panel, organized on the sidelines of 22nd World Petroleum Congress, Yergin said, "Either later this year or early next year, the U.S. will reach the highest level of [oil] production it has ever reached in history, exceeding the highest level that was established in the early 1980s." According to Yergin, there are major changes on the global agenda of the global petroleum industry. One of these changes is in rebalancing and recalibration, he explained.
"We see a struggle being played out in the world oil industry between rebalancing on one side and recalibration. When OPEC and non-OPEC countries got together last December with a declaration of cooperation, it reflected a new stage in the history of the oil industry, the cooperation between OPEC and non-OPEC and the institutionalization of that relationship," he said. He also noted that what is observed in the market is the impact of price.
As one of the major changes in the market, Yergin included the "shale shock."
As opposed to two years ago, U.S. shale really plays "a big important new part of the oil and gas industry," he said, declaring that now shale is part of the overall system.
Currently, it is a "different oil industry," Yergin said expanding that the industry has a different dynamic, rhythm and a different metric to it. He said that comparative to other expenditure in the oil industry, U.S. shale is on the rise. "It is not a $70 business; it is a $40-$50 business. We look at our numbers of spending around the world. Every other place in the world, they are flat or even declining. The one place that numbers are going up is in U.S. shale. It is going up quite dramatically. In 2016, $11.5 billion was spent in the Permian shale. This is year it is about $26 billion. In other words, over a hundred percent increase," he said.
