The current crude oil price environment – in the vicinity of $100 per barrel (bbl) – comfortably exceeds the break-even economics of U.S. Light Tight Oil (LTO) production from the Bakken, Eagle Ford and other shale formations. But what proportion of LTO reserves would remain economic at, say, $75/bbl? According to Wood Mackenzie, the answer is a significant majority – at least 70 percent. “There is not much U.S. producers can do to influence global oil prices,” Harold York, Wood Mackenzie’s principal downstream research analyst, said in a late-March communique from the consultancy. “Supply and demand fundamentals and non-market dynamics around the globe keep the price environment well above the break-even economics levels of several U.S. tight oil plays.” “With Brent crude oil pricing in the late-2013 range of $108 per barrel of oil … in early 2014, almost all tight oil proven reserves are commercially viable, even if […]