Texas Railroad Commissioner boasts following OPEC deal

Texas Railroad Commissioner Ryan Sitton said Texas shale producers forced OPEC to extend its supply cuts for nine months.  MudProductions.com photo by Stephen Elliot.

Texas Railroad Commissioner Ryan Sitton

According to Ryan Sitton, Texas Railroad Commissioner, Texas shale oil producers forced OPEC to extend its supply cut agreement into the first quarter of 2018.

At its meeting in Vienna, OPEC agreed to carry forward the pact through at least March in order to help rebalance the oil market.  Saudi Arabia’s oil minister Khalid al-Falih said the cartel could agree to further cuts when it meets in November.

Global supplies are rising, in part, due to US shale producers who have upped production as prices rose and technology improved.

“Texas shale producers forced OPEC this morning to extend its oil production cuts for nine months,” Ryan Sitton, of the Texas Railroad Commission told Reuters. The three-person body regulates the Texas oil industry.

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Instead of restraining output to reduce the global oversupply, US producers are expected to increase their output by over 1 million barrels per day in 2018.

“Less OPEC oil on the market enhances the opportunity for American energy to fill needs around the world, and will help us achieve energy dominance,” Sitton said. “The days of OPEC using oil supplies and prices as a political weapon are gone.”