Since oil prices recovered to over US$50 per barrel, analysts have started calling the bottom of the investment cycle in the oil industry. But while many U.S. onshore drillers are planning to increase capital budgets for this year, oil supermajors continue to be cautiously waiting to see where oil prices would go with the OPEC supply-cut deal and expected rebalancing of supply and demand. The diverging paths that Big Oil and smaller U.S. shale-focused companies are planning in terms of capital expenditure this year is not just the fact that investment amounts are incomparable: dozens of billions of dollars vs. a couple of hundred million dollars. The different routes ahead for those two groups of companies are the result of starkly distinct financial and production growth priorities and the fundamental difference of the projects the firms have been undertaking for years. U.S. shale drillers – which are emerging from […]