The oil majors are scrambling to scale up their shale operations, and they are quickly becoming the most dominant producers in the shale sector, despite having arrived late to the party. The early days of shale drilling was done by small and medium-size drillers. Over the last few years, the oil majors like ExxonMobil and Chevron are taking on a much greater role in U.S. shale, particularly in the Permian basin. Chevron’s Permian production shot up to 377,000 bpd in the fourth quarter of 2018, up 172,000 bpd from a year earlier. The company’s production was up 70 percent on an annual basis. Looking forward, Chevron expects to keep its spending mostly flat in the Permian while ramping up in other basins. “We’ve seen significant reductions in development costs in the Marcellus, in the Duvernay and in the Vaca Muerta, as we’ve shared the learnings and improvements that are […]