U.S. shale producers will not offset Iran supply drop post-deal exit - CEO

Reuters  |  HOUSTON 

By Ernest Scheyder

The withdrawal, alongside Trump's decision to impose the "highest level" of sanctions on Iran, sent Brent and U.S. prices up more than 3 percent on Wednesday.[O/R]

Iran, the third-largest in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, pumps 3.8 million barrels per day (bpd).

U.S. shale producers, which in the past year have increased output by nearly 2 million bpd, to about 7 million bpd, are not likely to act to fill that void should Iranian exports slip, said Mark Papa, of Centennial Resource Development Inc .

"I don't think it's going to change what U.S. producers do at all," Papa told in after a meeting with the board of directors of national oil company Saudi Aramco, which is holding a regularly scheduled gathering this week in

Many U.S. have set their 2018 spending budgets and are wary of boosting spending to pump more as their shareholders call for higher dividends and share buybacks.

For example, , the largest in the largest U.S. oilfield, the Permian Basin of and New Mexico, said on Wednesday it would allocate cash from rising to shareholder returns, and has no plans to add to capital expenses.

Iran's fell by around 1 million bpd during the last round of sanctions, but the country re-emerged as a major to after sanctions were lifted in January 2016.

Saudi Arabia, the world's largest oil producer, is studying Trump's decision but will not act alone to fill any supply gap, a source told

Papa, who declined to comment on the Aramco meeting, was joined by Harold Hamm, of , the largest in North Dakota's Bakken shale.

The pair left the meeting with gift bags.

Papa and Hamm are set to speak next month at an OPEC seminar ahead of an oil ministers' meeting in

"I'm going to go talk about what the expectations are for U.S. shale oil production," Papa said in a brief interview.

(Reporting by Ernest Scheyder; editing by Jonathan Oatis)

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

First Published: Thu, May 10 2018. 01:37 IST