OPEC+ Damocles Sword Hanging Over Shale Oil Producers

February 25, 2025/in /by Rudolf Huber

When I was still a manager, the imminent death of shale through OPEC was already predicted. It was considered that expensive shale could not compete with cheap OPEC producers. Then we saw one of the most dramatic price slumps in the history of oil with prices going single digit for a moment. Shale surprised with extreme resilience and far slimmer cost stacks than was assumed before. But the bigger surprise was how brittle OPEC producers were. The reduced revenues put even heavyweights like Saudi Arabia under strain. Shale was more resilient. I ended my management career 14 years ago. Thats how long Shale was due to die. It did not. And won’t do so in the future. OPEC or OPEC+ won’t change that.

OPEC Damocles Sword Hanging Over Shale Oil Producers

'OPEC decided ... to stick with its plan - to lift production by 120,000 barrels per day every month for 18 months starting April', SEB Chief Commodities Analyst Bjarne Schieldrop highlighted.

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