US oil production from shale and unconventional sources will grow in the future, but the rate will likely be less than most widely accepted sources currently predict, a well-respected industry veteran said Tuesday. After more than 4 million b/d of oil production growth from 2010 to early 2015, US output growth “disappointed” in 2017 and will probably continue to do so near-term, Mark Papa, long-time CEO of big US shale producer EOG Resources and currently CEO of small-cap Centennial Resource Development, said in webcast remarks at the UBS 2018 Global Oil and Gas Conference in Austin, Texas. The reason: lack of geologic top-tier acreage, Papa, who left EOG at the end of 2013, said. “If you look at each month of the EIA [US Energy Information Administration] production growth, it’s been essentially flat for nine of the past 13 months,” he said. “We had 500,000 b/d versus early predictions of around 650,000 b/d.”