U.S. shale oil production will drop 9 percent next year as a crude price below $50 a barrel “slams brakes” on years of supply growth, the International Energy Agency said. “Oil’s downward spiral to fresh six-year lows below $50 a barrel has dimmed the prospects for a recovery in U.S. drilling activity,” the Paris-based IEA said in its monthly market report Friday. “Unless oil prices bounce back in coming months, supply is forecast to fall by 385,000 barrels a day next year to 3.9 million barrels a day.” The forecast is a turnaround for the IEA, which only two months ago predicted U.S. shale oil output would increase by 60,000 barrels a day in 2016. Oil supply from producers outside OPEC will make the biggest contraction next year since 1992 as Saudi Arabia’s strategy to defend market share by pressuring rivals with lower prices takes effect, according to the […]