Oct 18, 2014 2 min read

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 just under $84 a barrel at one point this 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 this week. “Markets may even be oversupplied next year more than previously thought.”

The Energy Department this week reported that only 4 percent of shale production in North Dakota, Texas and other states needed an oil price above $80 a barrel for producers to break even on investments. One reason is that improved efficiencies in hydraulic fracturing and other modern production techniques have increased the output of each new well month after month in recent years.

Global and American benchmark oil prices bounced back a bit Friday, ranging between roughly $83 and $86. The U.S. benchmark, West Texas Intermediate, fell below $80 for the first time in two years briefly Thursday morning, and some oil experts say it could break the symbolic threshold again in coming days.

Lower oil prices mean lower prices at the pump for American consumers. The average national price for a gallon of regular gasoline on Friday was $3.14, 10 cents lower than it was a week ago and 22 cents lower than a year ago, according to the AAA motor club. That is the lowest price in more than three years.