Firms warn over shale growth potential

摘要

The US shale sector faces slower production growth in the major basins, driven by factors ranging from lagging infrastructure to exhausted budgets. US service giants Schlumberger and Halliburton have flagged the turbulence that the sector is heading into. The firms' third-quarter results already reflect a deceleration in activity, largely owing to worsening bottlenecks on oil and gas pipelines from the top producing region, the Permian basin. Halliburton, which has a bigger share of the North American service market, expects output growth to continue to slow as producers take extended drilling breaks, some starting before the Thanksgiving holidays, exacerbating seasonal declines.