Shale Drillers to Lift U.S. Spending 19% Next Year, Rystad Says

  • Cost inflation to make up more than half of the increase
  • Capital spending still a third lower than 2019 levels

An oil drilling rig in Midland, Texas.

Photographer: Matthew Busch/Bloomberg
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U.S. shale oil producers will increase capital spending by nearly a fifth next year as they deploy more rigs and inflation bites, according to Rystad Energy AS.

Expenditures will rise to $83.4 billion in 2022, the highest since the Covid-19 pandemic emerged in early 2020, with more than half of the increase due to “service price inflation,” the Oslo-based consultant said in a note Wednesday.