"US shale production continues to increase - another good thing"

It's kind of hard to follow your post.. I assume you mean imports as the US is banned from exporting crude..?!?

Anywho.. not really following what you are trying to say..??? other than somehow it appears that you agree that US Crude Oil production is declining..??

Is that what you are admitting?

On the weekly balance sheet they got it now at 9.337 which is.. no matter what math you use.. Less then what they reported earlier this year with as much as 9.693 reported for the month of march..on the monthly report (even though the weekly data never exceeded that number..during march..??)

( http://www.eia.gov/petroleum/supply/weekly/pdf/table1.pdf )

It may not close there but Crude traded back over a 40 handle over night..  As US production declines.. and KSA reaches it's objectives.. they will call off the dogs and try to go back to making some $$$

The US Industry is not healthy..  ( http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-08-26/oil-industry-needs-to-find-half-a-trillion-dollars-to-survive )

At a time when the oil price is languishing at its lowest level in six years, producers need to find half a trillion dollars to repay debt. Some might not make it.

The number of oil and gas company bonds with yields of 10 percent or more, a sign of distress, tripled in the past year, leaving 168 firms in North America, Europe and Asia holding this debt, data compiled by Bloomberg show. The ratio of net debt to earnings is the highest in two decades. 

In order to maintain production from Shale you must keep drilling.. the current environment is not sustainable as the legacy wells decline.. and can not be replaced..