Natural gas production worldwide is projected to increase from 342 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) in 2015 to 554 Bcf/d by 2040.

Exxon Mobil Corp. may invest more than $10 billion in Argentina’s Vaca Muerta shale formation in the next decades, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Rex Tillerson said Thursday.

Gas output from the top seven shale deposits will fall by 1.1 percent to 45.93 billion cubic feet a day from April, the biggest percentage decline since March 2013. The retreat is led by the oil-rich Eagle Ford deposit in Texas and the Niobrara shale in Colorado and neighboring states, where gas is pumped as a byproduct of crude extraction.

Crude oil production in May from the seven major US shale regions is expected to fall 114,000 b/d month-over-month to 4.84 million b/d, according to the US Energy Information Administration’s latest Drilling Productivity Report (DPR).

The squeeze puts further pressure on the shale industry to sell assets, cut jobs and drilling and shrink capital spending. It also raises the risk that more companies will tip into bankruptcy.

Analysts estimate that between 15 and 20 percent of 2016 U.S. oil production is hedged, and as little as 2 percent for 2017.

Three leading US shale oil producers have announced steep cuts in their planned capital spending, as they set their budgets to respond to the collapse in crude prices.

Nowadays the proven shale gas reserves across the globe were estimated at about five trillion cubic meters, which was less than three per cent of the world's aggregate proven gas reserves.

Crude oil production in November from seven major US shale plays is expected to drop 93,000 b/d to 5.12 million b/d. That’s back up to the same level forecast for September after a somewhat smaller decline was projected for October.

U.S. oil production growth will stop this month and begin to decline early next year due to low oil prices, the former head of oil firm EOG Resources, Mark Papa, said on Tuesday.