U.S. shale producers open talks with OPEC - WSJ

• OPEC secretary general Mohammed Barkindo will meet today with Texas railroad commissioner Ryan Sitton, whose agency oversees the U.S.'s biggest oil producing state, WSJ reports.
• The talks come as the Texas regulator reportedly considers curtailing production for the first time in decades, as shale oil companies, which are heavily in debt and produce at a higher breakeven price than conventional producers, have been hit hard by the Saudi-Russia oil price war.
• Proposed cuts in U.S. oil production are seen as way to help OPEC broker a truce in the price war, according to the report.
• WTI crude oil (NYSEARCA:USO) -2.8 to $24.52/bbl in choppy trading after rising early and then falling as much as 10%.
• Top Permian Basin producers include CVX, OXY, CXO, PXD, FANG, EOG, APA, XOM, XEC, PE, RDS.A, DVN, NBL