This very predictable response by the U.S. industry to the higher oil prices at the end of 2016 has effectively slowed the ability of the OPEC/Russia alliance to close the global supply glut, causing commodity traders to lose confidence. They may or may not be correct - we'll just have to wait and see. We should also expect to see the large monthly increases in overall U.S. oil production begin to tail off during the second half of this year. These are wells that companies had gone ahead and drilled during 2016 but did not hydraulically fracture or complete as they waited for higher prices to come about. As those higher prices materialized at the end of 2016, companies began completing these wells rapidly and putting them into production in order to capture the higher price.

Source: Forbes June 19, 2017 15:04 UTC