Shale drillers have been hamstrung by pipeline constraints, rising prices for oil-field supplies and shortages of roughnecks and rigs. But there is another reason the highest oil and gas prices in years haven’t tempted U.S. drillers to boost output: Their executives are no longer paid to.
Executives at firms including
,
and
were once encouraged by compensation plans to produce certain volumes of oil and gas, with little regard for the economics. After years of losses, investors demanded changes to how bonuses are formulated, pushing for more emphasis on profitability. Now, executives who were paid to pump are rewarded more…
