The American Shale Patch Is All About Depletion Now

With just a month left before U.S. President-elect Donald Trump begins his second term at the Oval Office, oil prices have been struggling to find direction, intensifying the notion that oil markets seem content to wait for him to take office. Trump has repeatedly vowed that he’ll push shale producers to ramp up output, even if it means operators “drill themselves out of business.” But it’s not clear how he intends to accomplish this feat since U.S. oil is produced by independent companies and not a national oil company…