The U.S. shale industry will see another production surge in 2018 as producers have sharply ramped up bets against a fall in oil prices, major oil executives and bankers said in London on Wednesday. Activity amongst small- and mid-sized producers is ahead of last year’s pace, analysts said, and a sharp increase in output could undermine the recent rally that in September pushed benchmark Brent crude to levels not seen since mid-2015. Patrick Pouyanne, the chief executive of Total, speaking at the Oil & Money conference in London, said he expected global oil demand to grow strongly again this year, by up to 1.6 million barrels per day (bpd). “Our U.S. colleagues are hedging […]