Vitol CEO expects slight drop in US oil output this year due to lower prices

By Florence Tan

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) -The chief executive of top energy trader Vitol expects a slight reduction in U.S. oil production this year due to lower prices, he said on Tuesday.

"With slightly lower prices ... we're beginning to see some impact on investment and production. And there's nowhere more obvious for that than within the U.S. and within the shale industry," Russell Hardy said at the Energy Asia conference.

Lower investment and production, however, are not a big concern as there is a lot of additional capacity coming on from OPEC and other countries, he added, referring to the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries.

Sources have told Reuters that behind OPEC+'s plan to ramp up oil output more rapidly in May, June and July than first planned is also the objective of taking on U.S. shale production to win back market share.

Hardy expressed concern about the conflict in the Middle East, adding that it is an uncertain time, but he said oil demand is increasing.

Benchmark oil has seen large swings in price movements on concerns that the Iran-Israel conflict may intensify and disrupt supply from the key Middle East producing region. [O/R]

Israel and Iran attacked each other for a fifth straight day on Tuesday, and U.S. President Donald Trump urged Iranians to evacuate Tehran, citing what he said was the country's rejection of a deal to curb nuclear weapons development.

(Reporting by Florence Tan and Sudarshan Varadhan; Writing by Emily Chow; Editing by Himani Sarkar and Jamie Freed)