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U.S. fracking companies are increasingly sending their idle equipment overseas, finding new markets abroad as growth slows in the shale fields of Texas, New Mexico and elsewhere.

The deal, expected to close in the second quarter, illustrates how shale companies are pushing to consolidate, as many of the best U.S. drilling sites have been tapped.

A commenter in a Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas energy survey wrote: “What was once the world’s most dynamic energy engine has been gutted by political hostility and economic ignorance.”

The latest production forecast for this year represents a drop of about 50,000 barrels a day from the Energy Information Administration’s previous projections in June.

In the shale oil fields of Texas, North Dakota and New Mexico, executives are unlikely to change their capital budgets based on abrupt price moves from U.S. military strikes on Iran.

Diamondback Energy, the largest independent oil producer in the Permian Basin, says production has likely peaked in America’s shale fields and will decline in the months ahead.  

Drilling in the U.S. shale patch declined at the fastest pace in almost two years as mounting international trade tensions threaten to stifle energy demand.

U.S. oil production will decline if the corporate-acquisition spree sweeping the shale sector is prolonged, according to a Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas survey.

Drilling in the U.S. shale patch dropped to the lowest level in almost 2½ years as operators vow to make good on promises to investors for subdued production growth this year.

Shale explorers are drilling wells faster than they’re fracking them, a strong signal that U.S. oil production growth is slowing.