The chairman of Permian heavyweight Pioneer Natural Resources took the unusual step Wednesday of publicly asking OPEC to pump more oil, arguing the price range of $60-$80/b is best for the group’s members and Texas shale drillers alike.
- Sheffield says oil rose to $80/b too fast, calls for $60-$80/b
- Texas bottleneck will shut in some Permian wells for a year
- Most of surging US production will continue to be exported
Scott Sheffield argued that global supply risks are looming in Iran, Venezuela, Libya and even the Permian Basin, where he said production growth will stay flat from September 2018 to September 2019 as new pipelines are built to alleviate a bottleneck. “If OPEC doesn’t do something, I think we’ll see $100/b oil-plus,” Sheffield said at the OPEC International Seminar in Vienna. “$100 oil is not going to help OPEC, and it’s not going to help us in West Texas. It will hurt demand and remove investment.” OPEC meets Friday in Vienna to decide on the future of its 1.8 million b/d production cut agreement with 10 non-OPEC partners, including Russia. Saudi Arabia and Russia appear aligned on raising quotas, but are facing opposition from Iran, Iraq and Venezuela.