Shale Drillers Restarting Investment as Oil Hovers Around $50/Barrel

While Saudi Arabia’s grip on oil prices has waned and shale drillers have survived its attempt to undercut them with crude prices nearing $50/barrel, China might just be the new Saudi Arabia of metals markets.

Resilient Shale Drillers Investing Again

Two years into the worst oil price rout in a generation, large and mid-sized U.S. independent producers are surviving and eyeing growth again as oil nears $50 a barrel, confounding the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and, particularly, OPEC heavyweight Saudi Arabia with their resiliency.

Free Download: The June 2016 MMI Report

That shale giants Hess Corp., Apache Corp. and more than 25 other companies have beaten back OPEC’s attempt to sideline them would have been unthinkable just months ago, when oil plumbed $26 a barrel and collapses were feared.

Is China Metals’ Saudi Arabia?

Speaking of countries that dominate the market for important commodities, is China doing for metals markets what Saudi Arabia used to do for crude oil?

Free Download: The June 2016 MMI Report

The world’s largest producer and consumer of industrial metals may be acting as a de facto, if unwitting, type of OPEC for metals, adjusting supply in response to price signals and balancing the market.