U.S. shale producers started boosting this week hedges to lock in the price of oil they plan to pump in the coming months, after the OPEC+ drama left the market uncertain about the future of oil prices and the alliance itself, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday, quoting sources with knowledge of the rise in hedge trades. Typically, the U.S. shale patch is hedging a part of its future oil production at a certain oil price. In this way, producers are protecting themselves against sharp drops in market benchmarks and ensure revenues for their crude at the locked-in price. The downside of hedging too much production is that companies miss out on additional revenues if oil prices are higher than expected. The market crash of last year is still a fresh wound in the shale industry, so companies are now hedging against another potential oil price war if the United Arab […]