Production boom lowers oil prices

HOUSTON » Falling oil and gasoline prices have sent oil company stocks tumbling, but oil experts say the boom in American energy production shows no signs of slowing down, keeping the market flush with crude and gasoline prices low.

Even after a drop of as much as 25 percent in oil prices since early summer, several government and private reports say it would take a drop of $10 to $20 a barrel more — to as low as $60 a barrel — to slow production even modestly.

Current production levels can be sustained in the shale fields in 2015 even if the Brent global oil benchmark, which fell to $82.75 a barrel last week, dropped to as low as $60 to $65, according to Rystad Energy, an international oil and gas consultancy based in Norway.

"Oil output will respond very slowly to a drop in oil prices," Bjornar Tonhaugen, vice president for oil and gas markets at Rystad Energy, wrote in a report released last week. "Markets may even be oversupplied next year more than previously thought."

U.S. bank failures reach 15 for year

WASHINGTON » Regulators have closed a small lender in Maryland, bringing U.S. bank failures this year to 15 after 24 closures in all of 2013.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said Friday that it has taken over NBRS Financial Bank of Rising Sun, Md.

The bank, which operated five branches, had about $188.2 million in assets and $183.1 million in deposits as of June 30.

Howard Bank of Ellicott City, Md., has agreed to pay the FDIC a premium of 1.19 percent to assume all of the failed bank’s deposits. It also agreed to buy essentially all of its assets.

U.S. bank failures have been declining since they peaked at 157 in 2010 in the wake of the financial crisis and the Great Recession.