U.S. shale output won't return to pre-pandemic levels: Occidental CEO

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The oil industry is recovering from a collapse in demand triggered by the coronavirus pandemic, but U.S. shale production will not recover to levels seen before the pandemic, Occidental Petroleum Chief Executive Vicki Hollub said on Tuesday.

"The recovery is looking really good to us. If you look at what's happening in India as well as the U.S., I think the oil industry is looking like things will be pretty good for us over next couple of years," Hollub said at CERAWeek by IHS Markit. .

"The severe drop in activity in the U.S. along with the high decline rates of shale and the pressure from investment community to maintain discipline instead of growth means in my view that shale will not get back to where it was in the U.S.”

(Reporting by Devika Krishna Kumar in New York; Editing by Marguerita Choy)