US Shale Digs In, Positions for 3.0 a Year After Historic Oil Price Crash

摘要

As benchmark Nymex WTI futures hover around $70/bbl—a year after the historic oil price crash that led to negative settlements in a first for the industry—a renewed sense of optimism is slowly but surely sweeping through the U.S. unconventional sector. After multiple bankruptcies, thousands of job losses and operations plans were abandoned, onshore producers have relatively firmer footing today than they perhaps had going into the downturn on the back of a consolidation spree, aimed at bolstering drilling efficiencies, adding scale and lowering administrative costs, positioning the industry for a stable 2022. While the market crash battered the global oil industry, the U.S. onshore industry was particularly hit hard given its practice of staying beyond its means, which resulted in producers piling up debt that they struggled to service once the prices plunged as cash flows got squeezed.