The renewed optimism in the oil markets and the $55-plus WTI prices may have warranted frenzied production growth across the U.S. shale patch, if it wasn’t for the 2015-2016 downturn. U.S. oil and gas companies are surely happier now than they were in June this year when WTI prices dropped to below $43 a barrel, but they have been preaching spending-discipline as the sting from the oil price plunge is still fresh. However, investors are not buying the ‘discipline’ narrative, and fear that the higher the WTI price goes up, the more U.S. shale drillers will want to return to growing production. Investors have also grown increasingly wary of the fact that they have received meager returns so far for their investments in U.S. oil firms and will not be too willing to pour in new financing just to see drillers grow production and not grow returns to shareholders. […]