Last week some comments from OPEC Secretary General Mohammed Barkindo signaled that OPEC may not understand how the U.S. oil industry functions. Reuters reports that Barkindo urged cooperation from U.S. shale oil producers to help keep the global oil market out of an oversupply situation. Barkindo stated, “We urge our friends, in the shale basins of North America to take this shared responsibility with all seriousness it deserves, as one of the key lessons learnt from the current unique supply-driven cycle.” Shale Producers Are Not A Cartel But the U.S. oil industry is nothing like OPEC. In 2016, the 14-member countries of OPEC produced nearly 43 percent of the world’s oil. The cartel also controls 71.5 percent of the world’s oil reserves. In comparison, the U.S. produced 13.4 percent of the world’s oil last year. That’s significantly more than any OPEC member except Saudi Arabia, but there are thousands […]