Despite multiple signals from the U.S. oil industry that it will continue treating the oil price recovery cautiously, signs are emerging that production growth is accelerating in some key locations, notably the Permian. Reuters reported this week, citing frac spread data from Tudor, Pickering, Holt and Co, that the rate of oil well completions in the Permian had risen by 5 percent in December. Frac spreads, or the pumping of water and chemicals into the wells to release the oil—the actual hydraulic fracturing—are one of the last stages in a well completion, the report noted. What this likely means is that consistently higher oil prices have finally proven too alluring to resist. Financial discipline and shareholder returns are all respectable priorities, but with global demand for oil seen strong despite the surge in new Covid-19 cases and with supply disruptions elsewhere, U.S. oil is gaining further prominence. And so […]