Independent producers aim to boost output

摘要

Many large US independent producers plan to boost output in the fourth quarter and into next year, defying expectations of a slowdown. Individual company guidance underpins the EIA's latest crude production forecast of 12.06mn b/d for next year, a 300,000 b/d upwards revision from its previous projection. US output will hit 12mn b/d as soon as April, about six months earlier than expected, the agency says in its monthly Short-Term Energy Outlook. The firmer outlook comes despite recent comments by Schlumberger and Halliburton alluding to a potential slowdown in the major US shale basins.