Pipeline bottlenecks in North America’s biggest oil field are so pervasive that drillers are quitting new wells at a record pace. And it’s about to get a lot worse. (Bloomberg) — Pipeline bottlenecks in North America’s biggest oil field are so pervasive that drillers are quitting new wells at a record pace. And it’s about to get a lot worse. The vast pipe networks that haul crude from the Permian Basin are almost completely full thanks to a production boom in the oil-rich area of West Texas and New Mexico that rivals Saudi Arabia’s Ghawar field in massiveness. Explorers who’ve been drilling feverishly to cash in on an OPEC-driven price rally are now slamming on the brakes to let pipeline owners catch up. As a result, the number of Permian wells that were drilled but left unfinished surged to 3,203 last month, a 90 percent increase from a year […]