Environment and Energy
October 9, 2018
Bottlenecks Squeeze the Outlook for OCTG
Written by Tim Triplett
Energy prices are up, but growth in the rig count has slowed, and bottlenecks in the nation’s oil fields will continue to constrain oil and gas production—and along with it demand for oil country tubular goods (OCTG), reports Rick Preckel, a principal at Preston Pipe, a Ballwin, Mo., market research and consulting firm.
As of Oct. 9, West Texas Intermediate was trading near $75 and Brent Crude was around $85 per barrel. “Certainly, that’s good in terms of stimulating interest in more drilling. But since mid-year, the rig count has been relatively flat,” Preckel said. The rig count in North America is up by 116 rigs over this time last year, but has actually declined from 1,062 rigs in early June to 1,052 in the latest Baker Hughes survey.
