Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on June 17, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 23, 2026
Add as preferred source on GoogleVitol CEO predicts a minor decline in US oil production due to lower prices, with OPEC's increased capacity balancing the market.
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)
The CEO expects a slight reduction in U.S. oil production this year due to lower prices.
Lower prices are beginning to impact investment and production, especially within the U.S. shale industry.
OPEC+ plans to ramp up oil output more rapidly to counter U.S. shale production and regain market share.
Hardy expressed concern about the conflict in the Middle East, mentioning that it is an uncertain time but noted that oil demand is increasing.
Benchmark oil prices have seen large swings due to concerns that the Iran-Israel conflict may intensify and disrupt supply from the Middle East.
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