“I don’t think we will return to a production of 13 million barrels per day [aux Etats-Unis] in my lifetime. “ The declarations, at Financial times, Monday July 13, from Matt Gallagher, the boss of Parsley Energy, one of the biggest shale oil players in Texas, sounds like a confession. That of the end of a dazzling epic, that of the American oil renewal.
In 2018, the United States had become the first oil-producing country, passing ahead of Russia and Saudi Arabia. In 2020, they had just reached 13 million barrels per day, and expected to become net exporters over the year. This tremendous return of the Americans in the oil game had shaken the market, and allowed Donald Trump to claim a “Energy domination”, thanks to shale gas and oil.
The Covid-19 and its aftermath brought this trend to a screeching halt. In the shale sector, some twenty companies have already gone bankrupt. Several tens of thousands of layoffs have been announced. US production in June has already fallen to less than 12 million barrels a day and is expected to be around 11 million by the end of the year, according to the Energy Information Agency (EIA) . According to a study by Deloitte, shale companies will have to write down assets for more than $ 300 billion (263 billion euros) in the second half.
Berezina
The sharp drop in oil prices from the start of March has negated the outlook for US oil companies. The crisis first started with the rapid price war launched by the Saudis and the Russians in early March. But above all, it has been reinforced by containment measures around the world, which have reduced demand like never before. At the end of April, prices collapsed, to less than 16 dollars for brent, the barrel which refers to the world level. With an even stronger impact on the American market, which experienced, during the same period, an episode of negative prices.
Twenty companies in the shale sector have already gone bankrupt
An example of this bérézina: Chesapeake Energy, nicknamed the “Google shale”. The Oklahoma-based group was one of the most aggressive and innovative producers in the American oil revolution. On June 29, he filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection so he could begin restructuring without pressure from his creditors – he had accumulated more than $ 7 billion in debt.
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