Schlumberger says US shale boom slowing | Financial Times

Schlumberger says US shale boom slowing | Financial Times:

Investment in the US shale oil industry continues to fall, production growth is slowing and the balance of spending is shifting to other parts of the world, the oilfield services group Schlumberger has said.

Paal Kibsgaard, chief executive, said he “the higher cost of capital, lower borrowing capacity, and investors looking for increased returns” in the US shale industry would mean that exploration and production companies would have to limit spending on new wells to what they could cover from their cash flows, cutting total expenditure by about 10 per cent.

In the rest of the world, however, investment is picking up, and is expected to rise by about 7-8 per cent this year, the company thinks.