U.S. oil producing companies can obtain the record profit in 2018, if they will start increasing production with incredible speed, according to the experts, surveyed by The Wall Street Journal, Finance.ua reports.
The oil prices skyrocketed by 40% for the last half a year and are maximum for the last three years, while the companies cautiously approach the budgets for drilling new wells. Such restraint in increasing the production may not let the prices drop in response to the supply increase that will positively affect the profit of companies.
The large companies, including Anadarko Petroleum and Chevron, already stated their plans to decrease investments in drilling new wells in 2018. The smaller companies will likely increase investment, but not so much as in the previous year: by 8% versus 55%, according to the forecasts of analysts, surveyed by Jefferies.
The companies of the sector should spend additional funds on reducing the debt load, the billionaire and CEO of Continental Resources Harold Hamm said. The debts have increased lately due to high expenses on the expansion of production: since 2010, U.S. energy companies spent by USD 265 bln more that they earned from main activities.
Nevertheless, U.S. Department of Energy forecasts that the production in the States can surpass the historic record, set in 1970 at the level, higher that 10 mln barrels per 24 hours.
