The US government’s Energy Information Administration has hiked its projection for 2018 crude output growth to 776,000 b/d, up by 65,000 b/d from last month’s forecast. With NGLs output slated to grow by 470,000 b/d to 4.16mn b/d in 2018, total oil output is slated to leap by over 1.24mn b/d to a massive new record of 14.18mn b/d.
Growth of anything like this magnitude will add to the tension within Opec and non-Opec as 2018 wears on given that it will likely push back market rebalancing whilst all the while eating into Opec’s market share (MEES, 15 December). (CONTINUED - 1020 WORDS)
