Is the U.S. shale oil industry in trouble? No, it is engaged in a high-stakes competition for market share. As oil flooded the market in 2014-15, prices dropped dramatically and producers began burning midnight oil to manage the downward economic pressures. While some overleveraged companies won’t survive the economic challenge, in true Darwinian fashion, the fittest will prevail. According to the U.S Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) “Drilling Productivity Report ,” it is estimated that by January 2016, daily production in the seven most prolific shale oil and gas areas in the U.S is expected to fall by 116,000 barrels of oil and 365 million cubic feet of gas. Those seven production areas—ranging from the Utica and Marcellus shale deposits in the Northeast and the Bakken, Niobrara, Haynesville, Permian, and Eagle Ford deposits in the middle of the country—accounted for 92 percent of domestic oil production growth and all natural […]