Oil market investors and analysts are currently very much focused on the demand side, with concerns over the potential of trade wars to curb oil demand growth. On the supply side, analysts have shifted their focus onto losses from Iran, crumbling Venezuelan production, and whether OPEC and its allies will be able—and willing—to offset supply disruptions. Currently, U.S. shale growth is probably the most overlooked supply-side factor, a factor that will likely offset many of the losses from production problems elsewhere in the short term. The big question is for how long U.S. tight oil growth can offset declining production in other parts of the world. “The explosion in U.S. tight oil production has long been the dominant supply catalyst within the energy complex but now finds itself at the tail end of concerns. Even so, its ascent continues apace,” PVM Oil Associates oil analyst Stephen Brennock wrote in […]