Well, it looks like the U.S. shale oil industry is going to chalk up another lousy year of financial losses in 2017. This shouldn’t be a surprise as the U.S. shale oil industry hasn’t made any real money since 2008. However, I still read articles suggesting that the United States will still become energy independent by ramping up its Mighty Shale Oil Machine.
Unfortunately, the country’s shale oil industry will never allow the United States to become energy independent, but it will sure go broke trying to do so.
According to the article by Nick Cunnigham, Is Wall Street Funding A Shale Failure, he made the following remarks:
Investors hungry for yield are throwing money into companies who then drill more, and the surge in production is hurting the industry as a whole.Despite efficiency improvements, the shale industry is expected to be cash flow negative by a combined $20 billion this year as oil prices sink.
….. Investors are slowly waking up to the idea that they may not be able to make juicy profits by betting on a sharp rebound in oil prices. There is some early evidence that Big Finance is pulling back, with new equity issuance down recently.
As Nick stated in his article, the U.S. shale oil industry is expected to tack on another $20 billion in NEGATIVE free cash flow. Thus, they spent another $20 billion more than they made in operating cash. If you have been reading my energy articles for the past several years, this is no surprise.
Looking at the chart below, I estimate the U.S. shale oil industry will produce about 5 million barrels of oil per day in 2017. This equals about 1.8 billion barrels for the year. In producing those 1.8 billion barrels of oil, the U.S. shale oil industry lost $20 billion. Yes, I know, its not a net income loss, rather it’s negative free cash flow. However, free cash flow is a better metric in determining the health of a company:
In order to stop the negative free cash flow hemorrhaging, the U.S. oil industry decided to cut back on its CAPEX (capital) spending. According to the EIA report, U.S. Oil Producers Paying Off Debt, But Higher Costs Restrict Cash Flow Growth:
