We may still be many years away from a permanent peak in US shale oil production. Even when shale oil production will eventually peak, I foresee a very gentle decline curve, despite many expectations to the contrary, which assume that because of the steep individual well decline rates, shale oil production will most likely see a similarly steep decline. What I foresee happening is a peak in overall production occurring once most of the prime drilling acreage has been drilled out and companies will be pushed into mostly second tier acreage. At that point, second-tier