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Oil Explorers in U.S. Heartland Need $69 Crude to Boost Drilling

  • Companies said they needed only $56 last year, Kansas Fed says
  • Capital expenditures declined, but access to credit edged up
The silhouettes of pumpjacks are seen above oil wells in the Bakken Formation near Dickinson, North Dakota, U.S., on March 7, 2018.
Photographer: Daniel Acker/Bloomberg
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Oil companies operating in the central U.S. want oil to average $69 a barrel before they’ll substantially expand drilling, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City.

That’s up from $56 a year earlier, according to a survey of firms released Friday by the Kansas City Fed, which serves all or parts of seven states from Nebraska to New Mexico.