Here are four big factors influencing the domestic oil and gas industry as the week begins:
The rig count continues to escalate steadily. The DrillingInfo daily rig count sits at 1105 as of May 13, up 25 from two weeks before. This is not surprising at all – crude oil prices remain strong, making an increasing population of potential drilling projects economic to drill. More than 80% of those rigs are drilling oil wells, and over half of them are doing it within the state of Texas. Again, no surprise, given that the preponderance of the vast Permian Basin lies within the state.
