EIA cuts 2018 production outlook

It could be bad news for Opec's attempts to lift the oil price

For Opec, this month's Short-Term Energy Outlook from the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) was a mixed bag-some good, but mostly bad, news. The good? Lower prices are taking some steam out of American oil-production growth, believes the EIA. The bad? The slowdown won't show up until next year, and is smaller than the producer group would hope. The July report held its 2017 average production figure steady at 9.3m barrels a day, up from 8.9m b/d last year. But the EIA cut its outlook for 2018 by 100,000 b/d compared with last month's report to 9.9m b/d-still a record year for US output. The agency cut its price expectation for next year by $4/b to $52/b. The takeaways from the repor