Piling the pressure on US LTO
The country’s production may struggle to return even to its pre-pandemic levels, while growing to new heights seems a distant prospect
The US light tight oil (LTO) industry has been on a heck of a ride over the past decade. Domestic crude production has more than doubled, reaching record levels and stealing substantial market share from Opec and its allies. On the other hand, the competitive threat from rampant US supply has also triggered two oil price wars. And the economic fallout from the second of these and from the Covid-19 pandemic means it will take several years for US LTO production to match the record 9.15mn bl/d set in December 2019, before industry shut-ins and the widescale collapse in drilling activity (see Figures 1 and 2). At worst, US LTO output may have peaked. Troubled industry A wall of cash from bank
Also in this section
16 January 2026
The country’s global energy importance and domestic political fate are interlocked, highlighting its outsized oil and gas powers, and the heightened fallout risk
16 January 2026
The global maritime oil transport sector enters 2026 facing a rare convergence of crude oversupply, record newbuild deliveries and the potential easing of several geopolitical disruptions that have shaped trade flows since 2022
15 January 2026
Rebuilding industry, energy dominance and lower energy costs are key goals that remain at odds in 2026
14 January 2026
Chavez’s socialist reforms boosted state control but pushed knowledge and capital out of the sector, opening the way for the US shale revolution
