The long-awaited consolidation in the U.S. shale patch is well underway, with several high-profile multi-billion-dollar deals announced in the span of just a few weeks. Analysts say that the mergers and acquisitions (M&A) frenzy was inevitable; smaller oil firms with manageable debts are trying to survive the pandemic-driven industry downturn, and bigger players are looking to add top-quality assets to their portfolios. What is also inevitable during this consolidation drive in the U.S. shale patch is the loss of U.S. oil industry jobs as companies combine to reduce fixed cost and administrative expenses and benefit from synergies. Granted, the oil industry had already started shedding jobs at a fast pace as early as in March, when oil prices crashed in the pandemic, and the brief but very ill-timed Saudi-Russia spat over OPEC+ policies further crushed the market. The U.S. industry has already lost thousands of jobs in the upstream […]