RE:US rigs drop 15 down to 555US shale is done except for select Permian acreage. Cost of capital, skills shortage, tier 2 and 3 acreage, operating cost expansion are all creating a difficult environment for US shale, not to mention investor sentiment is negative for growth.
WTI is going Brent due to declining production from the 5 Brent blends down to 700k bbl/day, Euro WTI import volumes and WTI similarity to Euro refining capability. Canadian export capacity will receive a substantial boost when TMX line fill is complete, taking those barrels off US import via Cushing or Line 5 but still available to US west coast by Sumas or tanker.
Lots of good news in the details.