It’s not just OPEC production cuts, Venezuelan chaos, and sanctions that are pushing up oil prices this year–U.S. shale production is slowing, too. And the result is a phenomenal 30-percent rally in WTI Crude prices in the first quarter, with the U.S. benchmark jumping from as low as $45 a barrel in early January to as high as $60 at the end of March. These improving supply fundamentals, including waning concerns over global economic and oil demand growth, have led to oil’s best quarterly performance in a decade. But the key driver has been slowing growth in the U.S. shale patch in response to the 40-percent slump in prices in the fourth quarter of 2018, according to a note from John LaForge, Head of Real Asset Strategy at Wells Fargo Investment Institute. While Saudi Arabia is the “swing” producer, managing the market by deliberately withholding or increasing production regardless […]