Baker Hughes Dashes Hopes That Oil Producers Will Increase 2025 Spending.
U.S. oil and gas producers are likely to boost output primarily from improved efficiencies rather than new drilling and higher spending, Baker Hughes (NYSE:BKR) chief executive Lorenzo Simonelli told Reuters on Monday. Simonelli’s sentiments mirror those of Exxon Mobil’s (NYSE:XOM) Upstream President Liam Mallon who recently dismissed the notion that U.S. producers will dramatically increase output under a second Trump term.
With oil prices falling in the current year, profits are likely to shrink, further limiting Big Oil’s spending power. Two years ago, the Biden administration urged U.S. companies to increase production in a bid to bring down fuel prices. Back then, oil prices were hovering around $100 per barrel and oil companies were raking in record profits. However, last year witnessed a sharp slowdown in non-OPEC+ supply growth from 2.46 mb/d in 2023 to 0.79 mb/d in 2024, primarily caused by a reduction in U.S. total liquids growth from 1.605 mb/d in 2023 to 734 kb/d in 2024, with low oil prices disincentivizing more drilling. StanChart expects this trend to continue, with U.S. liquids growth expected to clock in at just 367 kb/d in 2025 before slowing down further to 151 kb/d in 2026.
Source: OILPRICE
