Untapped US shale reserves face being erased from drillers' books

New York

MILLIONS of barrels of untapped oil that US shale drillers discovered during the boom years are about to disappear from their inventories.

Six years ago, the industry pushed the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to make it easier for companies to claim proved reserves for wells that wouldn't be drilled for years. Some prospects considered sure-things when crude was US$95 a barrel are money losers at today's US$60. When crude crashed in 2008, 44 US companies wiped 630 million barrels from their books.