With WTI trading above 80 per barrel, shale drillers in the US are increasingly likely to reduce capital discipline and use their recent cash windfall on new drilling rigs in 2022. The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) expects US shale output to increase in November, albeit by a mere 76,000 b/d m-o-m to a total of 8.3mbpd, although a more marked ramp-up is expected next year. In the meantime, well productivity in both the Bakken and Eagle Ford continues to fall as the sweetest spots are already drilled, with Bakken seeing the largest downward correction. At the same time, the number of drilled but uncompleted wells (DUCs) decreased again last month, down 241 to 5,385, the lowest in almost five years, marking the 15th consecutive month nationwide that DUCs declined. As countries around prepare for winter weather, it appears that the energy crunch is only going to worsen and […]