Investors in US drillers feel pain as oil price falls

New York

INVESTORS have a message for suffering US oil drillers: We feel your pain.

They've pumped more than US$1.4 trillion into the oil and gas industry the past five years as oil prices averaged more than US$91 a barrel. The cash infusion helped push US crude production to the highest in more than 30 years, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Now that oil prices have fallen below US$46, any euphoria over cheaper energy will be tempered by losses that are starting to show up in investment funds, retirement accounts and bank balance sheets. The bear market has wiped out a total of US$393 billion since June - US$353 billion from the shares of 76 companies in the Bloomberg Intelligence North America…