Environment and Energy

September 13, 2016
Oil and Gas Prices and Rotary Rig Counts for August 2016
Written by Peter Wright
The price of oil and natural gas have much to do with sales of oil country tubular goods (OCTG) and related steel products. The energy markets represent a large portion of the hot rolled coil used to make pipe and tube, storage facilities as well as equipment used to drill and pump oil and natural gas.
Figure 1 shows historical oil and gas prices since January 2000. The daily spot price of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) rose through $40 on April 11th and since then has been in the $40s except for one day, August 2nd when it dipped to $39.50 and 3 days, June 7th through the 9th when it broke through the $50 level. On September 6th WTI closed at $44.85 according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA). Brent closed at $46.21 on the same day.


