OPEC should beware as U.S. shale producers are set to steal a bigger slice of the world’s biggest oil market and threaten the cartel’s foothold in Asia, according to a top industry consultant.
American light crude shipments to Asia will reach almost 1.3 million barrels a day in the next five years from almost nothing in 2016, according to Wood Mackenzie Ltd. This will allow Asian refiners to fill up 40 percent of additional spot demand with U.S. shale, said Sushant Gupta, the firm’s research director.
