Permian Shale Chiefs Signal Growth Is Over, at Least for Now
- Independent oil producers are drilling just to stem declines
- Growth ‘pretty much off the table,’ Diamondback CEO Stice says
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America’s most prolific shale drillers are accepting a fate once anathema to an industry obsessed with growth: Drilling just to ward off production drops.
The pandemic and subsequent plunge in crude prices has forced U.S. crude explorers to scrap plans to expand supplies amid investor skepticism toward the shale business model. For some of the biggest names in the Permian, that’s meant vowing restraint as long as oil lingers at levels too poor to justify a new boom.