Bloomberg Intelligence projects oil production in the U.S. could rise 322,000 barrels a day to an average 7.485 million at the end of 2016 if drillers diminish the fracklogs by 125 wells per month. If drillers wait for prices to rise to $65 per barrel for an extended period, the forecasters expect supply to rise 500,000 per day to 7.67 million.
ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP) Chief Executive Officer Ryan Lance has already voiced concern over a potentially supply spike as producers complete wells on higher prices and rising demand.
“Those who are drilling and deferring completions – obviously if they get a price signal that the commodity price is coming back a little bit you’ll see more supply come on,” Lance warned at the IHS CERAWeek Energy conference.
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Max Chen contributed to this article.