Friday, January 13, 2017

U.S. Shale Jobs Are Coming Back

By Rakesh Upadhyay, for Oilprice.com. – January 12
The U.S. shale oil recovery is now gaining momentum, and for the first time since September 2014, the U.S. oil and gas extraction and support services jobs increased by 3,300 in November, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data. Though the increase is small compared to the whopping 155,000 job cuts over the past two years, the increase is an indication that the cycle in the industry is finally starting to swing in another direction. The shale oil companies should thank their OPEC counterparts—their talks to cut production boosted oil prices by about 25 percent since mid-November. The shale oil drillers have taken advantage of the higher crude oil prices to hedge for 2017. Pioneer, one of the better run shale oil producers, has hedged 75 percent of its 2017 output at an average price of $50 per barrel. This recovery in shale oil is gaining a foothold, and is likely to continue even in 2017 and 2018, barring any black swan event. The total oil rig count has gone up to 529 in the week to January 6, from the lows of 316 rigs in May. Out of the total addition of 213 rigs, 104 rigs have been added since September 2016, the most since the first-quarter of 2014, when oil prices were trading above $100 per barrel. Read on...http://www.theenergycollective.com/staffjam/2396201/u-s-shale-jobs-are-coming-back

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