The oil market is currently focused on the recovery of shale oil in the United States and assessing the threat it poses to the oil price recovery amid an oil production deal by OPEC and 11 non-participating N-OPEC countries to cut off supplies by 1.8 million barrels per day.

Though two countries, Libya and Nigeria have been exempted from the OPEC deal we would consider productions from these two countries here.

Pitting the US exports in February against OPEC members’ productions clearly show the threat posed by the United States to OPEC. In February, US exported 746,000 barrels of crude oil per day, more than the productions of four members (Ecuador, Gabon, Libya, and Qatar) in the 13-member cartel and the exports are still on the rise and are in its infantry stage.

OPEC and oil producers around the world have a lot to lose if the US President Donald Trump follows through his ‘energy independence’ promise.