Energy & Science
Oil’s Collapse Is Taking an Entire Service Industry Down With It
- Losses for those that provide water, toilet paper or cement
- ‘Terribly painful,’ says Pioneer Energy Services CEO on losses
A Pioneer oil and gas drilling rig in the Bakken shale basin.
Photographer: Larry MacDougal/AP Photo
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No one is feeling the pain of an oil collapse more than the shale producers. Except, perhaps, their suppliers.
Take Stacy Locke, chief executive officer for Pioneer Energy Services Corp. Locke says he had no choice but to abandon drilling in the Bakken shale basin after roughly 20 years there as plunging oil prices slashed activity, and a major customer in the region -- Whiting Petroleum Corp. -- went bankrupt. The end result of a tough year for oil: Pioneer will lose the last 6 rigs it has in the Bakken, with each one ending jobs for 20 or so workers.