Drillers Go Rigless as Gas Price Collapse Heralds Austerity Era
- Explorers slashing expenses as they wait for prices to rebound
- Natural gas drilling rigs at lowest level since at least 1987
Unused oil rigs stand in the Port of Cromarty Firth in Cromarty, U.K., on Tuesday, Feb. 16, 2016. The pace of drilling in the North Sea, the center of U.K. oil production for the past 40 years, has sunk to a record as crashing energy prices force explorers to abandon costly projects.
Photographer: Matthew Lloyd/BloombergNatural gas producers are finally realizing that the age-old adage is true: If you find yourself in a hole, stop digging.
Explorers have idled drilling equipment at historic rates -- a drop in prices has resulted in the fewest rigs in at least three decades searching for new output. Southwestern Energy Co., the third-largest U.S. gas producer, has stopped drilling altogether, while Chesapeake Energy Corp. has no rigs in the gas-rich U.S. East, down from an average of about 13 in 2014.