NEW YORK, Jan. 21 (Xinhua) -- U.S. oil production and investment help the country's economy become "sort of" neutral to oil price changes, said a chief U.S. economist on Tuesday.

"The dynamics of oil in U.S. economy are just very different because we're such an important world (oil) producer now," said Lewis Alexander from Nomura, an Asia-headquartered financial services group, at a panel discussion on world economics organized by the Council on Foreign Relations.

Things that used to be negative for U.S. economy have become neutral because more investment in oil industry and more oil production would offset the adverse impact of consumers' less consumption, Alexander noted.

"We've seen that cycle play out over the last five or six years," Alexander told Xinhua, citing a growing investment ratio in shale oil production.

"We would broadly argue the U.S. economy is sort of neutral to oil prices now, which was not true in the past," Alexander added.

International oil prices saw short-lived spikes on the occasion of attacks on Saudi Arabian oil facilities in September 2019 and the assassination of Iranian commander Qasem Soleimani in January 2020. Enditem

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