U.S. rig count at highest since September, output at record Shale drillers will boost spending 20% in 2018: Evercore Oil retreated amid worries that OPEC’s deal to extend production cutbacks may take U.S. shale activity to a whole new level. Futures tumbled as much as 1.6 percent in New York. OPEC and partners including Russia last week agreed to keep cutting output through the end of next year. At the same time, North American explorers probably will boost spending by 20 percent in 2018, according to an Evercore ISI survey of industry budget trends. “It’s been a steady climb on the production side here in the U.S., which continues to eat away at OPEC’s hopes for balancing this market,” John Kilduff, a partner at Again Capital LLC, a New York-based hedge fund, said by telephone. “They are sowing the seeds for the deal unraveling just because the way it’s […]