This week, the IEA said that U.S. shale would dominate the oil and gas markets over the next decade, rising to “a level 50 percent higher than any other country has ever managed.” With a “remarkable ability to unlock new resources cost-effectively,” U.S. shale will add millions of barrels of new oil supply by 2025. But some view such heady predictions as fanciful. There are a variety of reasons why U.S. shale could struggle to add several million additional barrels per day over the next few years. But here are just a few. First, shale suffers from steep decline rates, much steeper than conventional wells. That means drilling is like running on a treadmill—more and more wells need to be drilled just keep production flat. The extraordinary rate of drilling over the past few years means that the industry not only needs to keep going at that frenzied pace, […]