For OPEC, U.S. shale oil is a curse. For the Trump administration, it is the biggest tool to help achieve what the White House has dubbed energy dominance . There are hundreds of players of all sizes in the shale patch, but the bulk of production is courtesy of just 30 companies—the shale oligopoly. These 30 companies include Big Oil giants like Exxon, Chevron, and ConocoPhillips, large independents such as Continental Resources, EOG, Apache, Anadarko, and Pioneer, and foreign companies like India’s Reliance Industries, Sinopec, and even Spanish Repsol. According to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence, the top 10—excluding vertically integrated players—are: (Click to enlarge) Source: Forbes Shale oil is unquestionably a hot topic. It will become even hotter with the ongoing debate over whether the shale boom is a scam because shale producers aren’t making any profits, or it’s a genuine boom that has tipped the scales […]