With the benefit of hindsight, last quarter may have been the best chance for cash-strapped U.S. shale oil producers to ensure they would get at least $60 a barrel for the next year or two. Barely a third did so. According to a Reuters analysis of hedging disclosures by the 30 largest such firms, more than half of them did not expand their hedges during the three months ended June or had no hedges at all, exposing them to a plunge that wiped more than $20 off the price of oil in the following months. In total, 12 companies increased their outstanding oil options, swaps or other derivative hedging positions by 36 million barrels at the end of the second quarter compared with the end of the first quarter, according to the data. Another 14 companies ended the quarter with hedging positions reduced by a total 37 million barrels, […]