A steep fall in oil prices would choke off production at some US fields and quickly tighten supplies, one of the leaders of the country’s shale oil revolution has said. Harold Hamm, chief executive of Continental Resources , the largest producer in the Bakken shale of North Dakota, said if an oversupply of oil drove the price down to $70 a barrel, it would “hurt” the US industry, but would quickly correct itself because it would make marginal production uneconomic. His assessment suggests that oil prices are likely to remain at around Friday’s level of about $100 a barrel for benchmark US West Texas Intermediate crude. US oil production has soared ahead of the government’s forecasts this year as the output from shales such as the Bakken and the Eagle Ford of Texas has boomed, leading some forecasters to predict an impending glut of American crude, particularly if supply […]