US still driving oil investment recovery

Executives see plenty of enticing opportunities, but spending will be heavily weighted to the US and they can't commit without signs of a sustained path toward higher-priced oil

Total global energy industry spending will rise by 7% this year, to $580bn, according to a report released this week from Bernstein Research—an investment bank. But that growth is heavily weighted to the US, and will be driven by tight oil development in particular. Spending on new production outside the US is expected to rise by just 4% this year—around $15bn—to $380bn, noted the bank, and remains far below the peak in 2014. US drillers plan to lift investment by around $25bn this year, from $175bn to $200bn, more than the rest of the world combined, according to Bernstein's figures. There are a number of reasons why capex outside of the US has been so sluggish since the downturn. For one,