Despite warnings from OPEC on the increasing supplies to an already oversupplied market, the shale companies in the United States have increased the number of active rigs in the country to 824, the highest level since September 2015. The number of active oil rigs in the United States increased by 10 last week to 662, and for gas, it rose by 5 to 160. The number of active oil rigs in the US has now risen for the 11th consecutive week and has more than doubled since it bottomed at 316 in the month of May last year.

OPEC and 11 participating non-OPEC countries have vowed to reduce production by 1.8 million barrels per day last November but Saudi Arabia has warned that it won’t be the swing producer to save others’ backs. Saudi Arabia, which has so far shouldered the majority of the production cuts achieved, is reportedly very upset with the rise in the US production, which according to the last week’s production report has reached 9.15 million barrels per day, up almost 9 percent from the bottom of last July.

In May, OPEC delegates and oil ministers are set to meet in Vienna to discuss whether the current production cuts agreement should be renewed or not. Reportedly, negotiations are already well underway. One of the biggest of discontents would be the subsidizing of US shale oil production, which has risen much faster than originally anticipated.