A Comeback in U.S. Shale Is At Least a Year Away, Oil CEO Says
- Precision Drilling’s Neveu sees rig recovery at least year off
- Supply shock likely if producers respond slowly to demand gain
Precision Drilling operators work on a rig near Mentone, Texas in 2017.
Photographer: Matthew Busch/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Even if the economy continues to recover and a second wave of the pandemic is less damaging than the first, U.S. shale drillers may still take at least a year before moving rigs back into the field, according to the leader of an oilfield-services company.
Precision Drilling Corp. Chief Executive Officer Kevin Neveu said activity in U.S. shale basins is in for a “prolonged downturn,” with drilling not rebounding until late in the second quarter of 2021 at the earliest, or the end of next year at the latest. That projection assumes governments respond to secondary Covid-19 outbreaks with less drastic measures than they used in recent months.