The worst crisis in the history of the global oil industry hit the U.S. oil services sector hard, prompting a wave of cancelled contracts, scrapped investment and bankruptcies. The worst, though, appears to be behind us.
It is difficult to see how the number of working drilling rigs in the U.S. onshore could fall any further after its epic collapse since March, which means the sector is due for an upturn.
The oil business is notoriously cyclical. When supply and demand get out of balance, there’s an inevitable correction. But the U.S. rig count has found its floor — the decline in the number of active rigs has slowed in recent weeks while oil prices have increased sharply. Demand is coming back.
