HOUSTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) – For the past three years, the boom in the U.S. shale oil industry has outstripped all expectations. Production surged far faster than any forecasts; drillers raced to secure space in new pipelines to get their crude to market.

Now, at the periphery, that may be changing – at least for a while.

News from two of the country’s less developed shale plays in Colorado and Ohio last week offer a reality check for the wave of euphoria that has washed across the industry. The stumbles mark a break from the past few years, when nearly every new project was an overnight success and output grew and grew.

HOUSTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) – For the past three years, the boom in the U.S. shale oil industry has outstripped all expectations. Production surged far faster than any forecasts; drillers raced to secure space in new pipelines to get their crude to market.

Now, at the periphery, that may be changing – at least for a while.

News from two of the country’s less developed shale plays in Colorado and Ohio last week offer a reality check for the wave of euphoria that has washed across the industry. The stumbles mark a break from the past few years, when nearly every new project was an overnight success and output grew and grew.

HOUSTON/NEW YORK, May 20 (Reuters) – For the past three
years, the boom in the U.S. shale oil industry has outstripped
all expectations. Production surged far faster than any
forecasts; drillers raced to secure space in new pipelines to
get their crude to market.

Now, at the periphery, that may be changing – at least for a
while.

News from two of the country’s less developed shale plays in
Colorado and Ohio last week offer a reality check for the wave
of euphoria that has washed across the industry. The stumbles
mark a break from the past few years, when nearly every new
project was an overnight success and output grew and grew.

NEW YORK, May 6 (Reuters) – The CME Group intends to
launch at least two new U.S. crude oil futures contracts before
the end of this year, as the rapid growth in U.S. oil production
and infrastructure boosts liquidity in Gulf Coast spot markets.

The contracts, likely to include one light sweet crude near
the Houston hub and a reboot of its Louisiana sour contract,
would complement rather than compete with its existing West
Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures that is based on delivery into
Cushing, Oklahoma, Dan Brusstar, Senior Director of Energy
Research & Product Development at CME, told Reuters in an
interview late last week.

NEW YORK/LONDON, May 1 (Reuters) – Oil traders including
commodities giant Trafigura and Australian bank Macquarie have
quietly begun shipping U.S. crude oil from Texas to Canada,
raising the ire of U.S. East Coast refiners who may pay four
times as much for a similar voyage.

In the latest oil trading trend to emerge from the
unexpected boom in U.S. shale production, the firms have hired
at least seven foreign-flagged tankers to run the route to
Canada this year, most of them for the first time, according to
market sources and data analyzed by Reuters.

NEW YORK, April 30 (Reuters) – World oil prices fell 1.4
Percent on Tuesday, posting their biggest daily decline in
almost two weeks after U.S. data showed Midwest business
activity contracted in April and a European report showed record
unemployment.

A survey showing a rebound in supply from OPEC producers in
April further pressured prices a day after they had rallied up
to $104. In mid-April, Brent crude oil hit a nine-month low
below $97, and ended down more than 7 percent for the month, its
biggest monthly decline in 11 months.

NEW YORK, Feb 19 (Reuters) – An investor bid to break up
Hess Corp’s sprawling energy empire has drawn unwelcome
attention to one of the commodity trading world’s lesser-known
players, a venture that has stumbled in recent years after a
decade of success.

Hess Energy Trading Company, the New York-based joint
venture known commonly as Hetco, is one of a handful of Hess
Corp units unrelated to the production of oil and gas that
activist shareholder Elliott Management says should be
“reassessed,” advocating the firm’s split-up.

NEW YORK, Dec 28 (Reuters) – The past four years of U.S.
environmental regulation was marked by a crackdown on emissions
that angered coal miners and power companies. Over the next
four, the new head of the Environmental Protection Agency will
have to decide whether to take on an even larger industry: Big
Oil.

Following Lisa Jackson’s resignation on Wednesday, her
successor will inherit the tricky task of regulating a drilling
boom that has revolutionized the energy industry but raised
fears over the possible contamination of water supplies.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – The past four years of U.S. environmental regulation was marked by a crackdown on emissions that angered coal miners and power companies. Over the next four, the new head of the Environmental Protection Agency will have to decide whether to take on an even larger industry: Big Oil.

Following Lisa Jackson’s resignation on Wednesday, her successor will inherit the tricky task of regulating a drilling boom that has revolutionized the energy industry but raised fears over the possible contamination of water supplies.

NEW YORK, Dec 26 (Reuters) – Oil prices jumped by the most
in weeks on Wednesday, with U.S. crude reaching its highest in
more than two months as technical buying and signs of speedier
efforts to avert a U.S. fiscal crisis fuelled an abrupt year-end
rally.

After trading about $1 a barrel higher earlier in the day,
despite a UK holiday that continues to sap liquidity, oil prices
jumped by another $1 in the early U.S. hours. Traders attributed
the rapid gain to buying at a key technical support level and
possible algorithmic short-covering.