The low oil price environment is causing hardship for US operators as NYMEX light, sweet crude trades around $35/b. In reaction to the sharp decline in oil prices, 38 US operators have revised 2020 capital expenditures by 36%, a reduction of $41 billion, but it appears the revisions have finally stabilized. A large part of the spending cut was reducing the amount of drilling and completion activity: US horizontal oil rigs are down 67% and fracking crews are down 82% from mid-March levels. In May, drilling activity continued its decline but at a slower pace, as operators decommissioned rigs at an average of 25 rigs week-over-week, an improvement compared with April’s average decline of 65 rigs W/W. This is likely a sign that rigs are […]