A firm that nearly sank in 2015 is reviving activity in largest US oilfield

US oil output has jumped to 9.31 million bpd this year, up 440,000 bpd from 2016

As oilfield workers for Lilis Energy Inc threaded together drill pipes one recent morning in the Permian Basin, a bulldozer cleared sagebrush to make way for the company's fifth well since January.

Lilis aims to expand production sevenfold this year in America's most active oilfield.

The whir of activity is all the more impressive after the small firm nearly collapsed in late 2015 - amid unrestrained production from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). As per-barrel prices plummeted, Lilis piled on debt and struggled to pay workers.

Now - with prices higher after a November OPEC decision to