Analysis Shows Energy States Recovering from Bust of 2014
However, the industry is prone to booms and busts, with the oil price correction in late 2014 serving as a stark reminder. With Brent prices falling from above $100/bbl in mid-2014 to the low $30/bbl range in early 2016, energy producers were forced to become leaner, slashing rigs and employment and reevaluating investment plans. State economies with large energy footprints were hit hard. Indeed, Louisiana, North Dakota, Oklahoma, West Virginia, and Wyoming entered varying degrees of recession.
This raises the question: How are energy-producing states faring some four years after the initial correction? The answer: resoundingly improved from the bottom of the cycle but not back to the pre-correction heights, at least in terms of jobs and rigs. Production is another story, however. Efficiency gains and new technologies mean that operators can do more with less, with new-well oil and natural gas production per rig more than doubling compared to levels in late 2014. This lessens the need for new rigs and field workers.
Consequently, rig counts are down in almost every state compared with late 2014. New Mexico is the lone exception, supported by booming activity in the Permian Basin. Indeed, the Permian has been the hottest play coming out of the oil downturn. It is now home to 46% of active U.S. land rigs, up from 29% in late 2014.
Next door, Texas rig counts have performed relatively well but the overall numbers are softened by weakness in the Eagle Ford and Barnett plays. The Cana Woodford in Oklahoma has been another strong play coming out of the downturn. The gas-dominated plays in Pennsylvania, Louisiana, and West Virginia did not see as hard a fall in rig activity during the correction, which along with increasing LNG and LPG export capacity is helping drive drilling activity in the Marcellus and Haynesville plays. Overall, the investment dollars for oil have been flowing to the Permian, with some of the more fringe plays not attracting the same amount of interest post correction. California, North Dakota, and Colorado, for example, have been slower to see rig activity climb back.
Jobs remain well below late-2014 levels in all the major energy-producing states. These jobs have a huge impact, paying wages more than 80% higher than average in Oklahoma, Texas, North Dakota, West Virginia, Louisiana, and Wyoming. These high wages have a large multiplier effect as they circulate through the economy.
The good news is that in most cases job counts are trending back up, but again, technological progress in the hydraulic fracturing industry is progressing quickly and changing the labor dynamic. Energy states will not return to the employment levels seen in late 2014 in the foreseeable future. However, the employment gap will close as production continues to ramp up.
The reach of the energy industry spans much farther than production itself. It supports workers in transportation, manufacturing, construction, and professional services. The massive investments in refining, chemicals, LNG, and related export facilities along the Gulf Coast have been a product of the renewed strength in U.S. energy output. Energy exports have risen rapidly in recent years and further growth is on the horizon. Billions of investment dollars have been poured into LNG export capacity along the Gulf Coast that will be coming online in stages through the 2020s and into the 2030s.
Energy-producing states will continue to benefit from renewed U.S. production. Brent prices have reached $80/bbl and are expected to average in the low $80/bbl range over the next five years, conditions that will spur further increases in U.S. energy production. Levels of oil and gas production employment and rigs will not return to previous 2014 peaks in most states, but the fact that they are on the rise again is a hugely positive economic force.
Texas was the most resilient state of the top energy producers and has led the recovery coming out of the downturn. Its economy is already firing again on all cylinders. In the hardest-hit states it will take time for overall employment levels to recover from the energy-induced recession. Total employment in Oklahoma got back to 2014 peak levels in 2017. Louisiana will return this year. It is a longer road back for North Dakota, where it will take upward of 10 years before employment levels approach their 2014 peak. The energy industry can be a source of tremendous growth for states and regions, but brings formidable economic volatility as well.
One outcome of the rapid expansion in the Permian Basin is that producers are running into capacity constraints in the form of pipeline bottlenecks and acute labor shortages. Additional pipeline is being added but it will take time to build out, giving producers greater incentive in the short term to ramp up operations outside the Permian. This spillover effect will help some of the fringe plays that are still in recovery mode build momentum again over the next year.
(SOURCE: The Weekly Propane Newsletter, November 5, 2018)
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