Tag Archives: trends

Nothing can go up and to the right forever, especially not the rig count. The US onshore rig count fell back by six units this week. This break is actually a good thing and we explain why and break down the weekly rig count in in this post. There’s a …

US land drillers sent 2016 packing with a bang. Since May, the drilling recovery has looked exceptionally strong on a percentage basis. The December trend looked exceptionally strong on an absolute basis too with 65 US rigs returning to work. December 2016 delivered the best absolute rig count increase of …

Each winter, we look forward to unwrapping the annual rig census report released by National Oilwell Varco. With it’s uniquely comprehensive rig market history, the report provides good perspective on the competitive landscape for drilling rigs around the world. There were no surprises on the demand side this year – …

It’s fair to say that the blow out preventer (BOP) business model is being re-shaped as we write. 10 months ago, GE and Diamond introduced a new BOP arrangement to the marketplace – one that transfers up-time responsibility to the OEM. This week, the largest BOP supplier moved to implement …

The US land drilling market is exiting the worst downturn in history. Why not follow that with the sharpest rebound ever? That is exactly what is happening now. Since bottoming about 30 weeks ago, the US rig count has increased 60%. The 1985 recovery outpaced this one for 25 weeks before falling back. The only …

Frac IPOs are back.  We mean that literally because the company about to make its public debut will trade under the ticker FRAC. This week, Keane Group Inc., owner of the 7th largest US frac fleet and employer of 1,251, filed an S-1 for a potential IPO. The company is …

There’s an OPEC meeting this week, have you heard? In a Google News scan Monday morning, we counted more than 100 articles about OPEC published in the last 24 hours alone. Enough will be written this week about the pageantry in Vienna to fill a small library. Endless speculation leading up …

Permian acreage values are changing rapidly, frustrating those who want in and providing a windfall to incumbent operators. What some are calling an acreage valuation bubble in the Permian may be just the tip of an inflation iceberg in the play. A tsunami of capital targeting deals in the region …

For service and drilling contractors that want a piece of Saudi Aramco’s $30bn annual budget, a line has been drawn in the desert sand. As we write, the NOC is making some of its first big moves to make good on an ambitious local content plan unveiled about a year ago. …

Last week, we rolled out an installment in our Thinking Ahead series taking a forward look at US production and estimating 2017 production levels. We’ve also been paying attention to operator commentary on 2017 drilling programs and capex. In this post, we add it all up and put our necks on the …