Shale Oil Boom Could End in May After Price Collapse

[Purveyor]

The shale oil boom that pushed U.S. crude production to the highest level in four decades is grinding to a halt.

Output from the prolific tight-rock formations such as North Dakota’s Bakken shale will decline 57,000 barrels a day in May, the Energy Information Administration said Monday. It’s the first time the agency has forecast a drop in output since it began issuing a monthly drilling productivity report in 2013.

Deutsche Bank AG, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and IHS Inc. have projected that U.S. oil production growth will end, at least temporarily, with futures near a six-year low. Some shale producers including ConocoPhillips and EOG Resources Inc. had predicted output would begin declining before the end of the year as aggressive industry cutbacks take effect. The plunge in prices has already forced half the country’s drilling rigs offline and wiped out thousands of jobs.

“We’re going off an inevitable cliff” because of the shrinking rig counts, Carl Larry, head of oil and gas for Frost & Sullivan LP, said by phone from Houston on Monday. “The question is how fast is the decline going to go. If it’s fast, if it’s steep, there could be a big jump in the market.”

West Texas Intermediate crude for May delivery climbed $1.41 to $53.18 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange at 11:08 a.m. in New York. Prices are down 50 percent from a year ago.

more...

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-04-13/shale-oil-boom-seen-ending-in-may-after-price-collapse

[sharp_stick]

1. People have very short memories

It's not over, just delayed. The price of oil will climb again and at that time they will once more start going after the shale.

[Romeo.lima333]

2. this is why the saudis are keeping output as high as it is

[Brother Buzz]

3. I was under the impression the boom ended months ago

when the last well was spudded.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

4. What is really costs to produce shale and bitumen is sort of an unknown

A lot of the high costs associated with shale and bitumen were driven by a shortage of manpower and machinery that made everything a bidding war. And when oil was $120+ per barrel, nobody really cared.

It's now just a matter of how much hot air can be let out of those costs.

The Canadian tar sands were producing at much, much lower oil prices than today. All that changed was the cost structure.