AGAINST THE FENCE

摘要

As the price of a barrel of crude approached $50 for the first time since spring 2015, many anticipate that E&P operators will begin to crawl out of their bunkers and—finally—add rigs again. Some bullish analysts, even, anticipate a sudden flip in supply and demand dynamics in the second half of this year, pushing WTI prices into the range of $70 per barrel (bbl). That would be good news for an industry starved of oxygen, but after a year and a half of falling rig count, the spotlight turns to the beleaguered service sector. Will oilfield service firms be able to respond when the call to ramp comes?