US shale oil producers are plotting ambitious production growth outside the red-hot Permian Basin in Texas, widening a resurgence that could confound OPEC's strategy to tighten global supplies.
As shale firms rebound from a two-year price war with OPEC, many are planning to expand production in North Dakota, Oklahoma and other shale regions.
The Permian - America's largest oilfield - has already seen output jump in the past six months. Hess Corp, Chesapeake Energy Corp, Continental Resources Inc and other firms detailed their growth plans at an energy conference in Houston this week. The projects they outlined would result in a steady supply of American crude exports through the next decade, Reuters reported.
"OPEC is trying to figure out US shale. US shale is trying to understand where (oil) prices will go. We're educating each other," the chairman of Pioneer Natural Resource Co, Scott Sheffield, said.
OPEC Secretary General Mohammed Barkindo said this week that for the cartel to renew its production output agreement, non-OPEC members must be on board.
