Oil market turns upside down as shale rushes to hedge post-Opec

LONDON: US shale oil companies are using the post-Opec rally to hedge their oil price risk for next year and 2018 above US$50 a barrel, bankers, merchants and brokers said, pushing the forward oil curve upside down.

The rush to hedge - locking in future cash flows and sales prices - could translate into higher US oil production next year, offsetting the first output cut by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries in eight years.