Drillers expecting turn around by the end of summer

Fuel Fix:

Rising crude prices could spur hiring across the Texas oil patch by August, a regional economist says, beginning a slow but steady reversal in the state’s energy employment after struggling drillers shed 1 in 3 jobs.

Over the past two months, a dozen U.S. oil companies — including Devon Energy and Pioneer Natural Resources — have announced plans to plow an extra $600 million into their shale fields in Texas and elsewhere as crude prices hover near $50 a barrel. Several have dispatched new rigs and received drilling permits.

Next, they’ll start hiring new people – unless, of course, the financial turmoil after the United Kingdom’s vote to leave the European Union spreads to Britain’s global trading partners and chills energy demand growth.

“We’ve endured this chaos for two years now,” said Karr Ingham, a Texas oil economist based in Amarillo. “It seems like we’re getting to the end of the tunnel. We’re finally seeing the fruits of all these terrible things that have happened.”
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If the hiring picks up, it is expected to be gradual.  I continue t think the reaction to the Brexit vote is overwrought.  Both the EU and the Brits are going to continue to need energy whether there is an exit or not.