The US oil fracker's dilemma: crouch or pounce?
US oil rig count, after being sliced by more than half since November, appears to have nearly bottomed out
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Houston
US SHALE oil producers, having weathered the worst price plunge in their industry's brief history, now face a dilemma: whether to stay in a defensive crouch after slashing their rig fleets, or start drilling more wells to capture a partial recovery in prices.
In a way, the conundrum is as old as the first oil well. If producers start pumping more crude, as some executives have said they might do if prices edge a bit higher, they risk contributing to another slump in a fragile global market; if they hold back, they forego regaining revenue lost during a price slide of 60 per cent that started in June.
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