While oil prices strengthened in recent weeks on the lower supply outlook out of Iran, investors should keep in mind that OPEC can step in at anytime to fill in the gap. The International Energy Agency said crude oil output among OPEC members surged by 420,000 barrels per day to average 32.63 millions a day in August, the Wall Street Journal reports.
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Additionally, U.S. shale output is expected to climb next year and into 2020.
“Recently, HFI Research forecast that the United States’ shale oil production would reach 9.66 million bpd in 2020, growing by a combined 3.84 million bpd between 2017 and 2020. This will only happen if pipeline bottlenecks in the Permian are dealt with, however. Should this happen quickly enough, the star play¬—along with the Eagle Ford and Bakken—will be the driver behind the overall shale production increase,” reports OilPrice.com.
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