ExxonMobil is expecting stronger production growth over the next few years as the world’s largest listed oil company steps up investment in its US shale reserves. Exxon projected its output in the shale oil regions of the US would grow an average of 20 per cent per year, in the latest sign of confidence that the industry is rebounding strongly after the downturn of 2014-16. Darren Woods, Exxon’s new chief executive who took over at the start of the year, told analysts in New York that “in the right market conditions” the company expected to increase its output of oil and gas by an average of 2 per cent per year over 2016-20.