VIENNA (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 06th July, 2023) The production growth of shale oil in the United States has flattened out, even though the European Union is moving away from Russian supplies, Secretary General of the International Energy Forum (IEF) Joseph McMonigle told Sputnik on Thursday.
"It (US shale oil production) grew considerably this year, but the growth seems to have flattened out. We are still 800,000 barrels a day from the pre-COVID levels. Normally, there would be a lot of reaction to higher prices in terms of growth, but the industry is essentially trying to attract investors and return cash to investors - 'I better return to keep investors happy.' As a result of that, the growth has been a little tepid. It's hard to tell what will happen going forward, but I don't see a lot of changes in terms of the investment aspects to it," McMonigle told Sputnik on the sidelines of the OPEC International Seminar in Vienna.
Earlier in the year, the EU's statistical office Eurostat said that the US had overtaken Russia as the top crude oil supplier in the EU for the first time, accounting for about 18% of the bloc's total imports in December 2022. In the first quarter of 2023, Russia's share in EU oil imports was only 3.2%, whereas the US accounted for around 13% of crude imports from the EU over the same period, according to Eurostat.
After Russia began its special military operation in Ukraine in February 2022, the EU actively sought ways to limit Moscow's energy-related revenues, especially from oil and gas. At the same time, the bloc began seeking to increase imports from other suppliers, particularly the US and Norway.
