Peak Shale: How U.S. Oil Output Went From Explosive to Sluggish
- Skittish investors prefer dividends to funding more drilling
- Even with new pipelines, production growth has barely budged
Photographer: Ty Wright/Bloomberg
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America’s shale boom got the world accustomed to soaring production. Now growth has slowed, and a cloud has formed over the industry.
Fracking pushed the U.S. closer to its long-sought goal of energy independence at a time of unprecedented geopolitical risk. Wells from Texas’s Permian Basin to the Bakken in North Dakota turned farmers and ranchers into overnight millionaires. Drivers enjoyed cheap gasoline, decent-paying jobs sprung up in small towns and new technology attracted investment from all corners of the world, keeping drillers busy.