The oil industry is ready for the next production boom

Oil producers are ramping up drilling and fracking activity, preparing to push domestic production near to pre-pandemic levels of 13 million barrels a day by the end of 2023 — if the Biden administration doesn’t get in the way.

America’s return to its premier position in global oil production would be an astonishing feat considering the depth and intensity of last year’s COVID-19-related downturn and price collapse, which caused output to fall to 10 million barrels a day last May. The collapse appeared so complete that it was heralded as the end of the shale revolution. Such dire predictions look like hyperbole in hindsight.