Within the span of just around a month, that boom has turned to a bust. Serious doubts have now been cast over the short- and even medium-term future of oil and gas production in the area, as producers shut down wells, idle drilling rigs and say goodbye to workers.
“We’re seeing layoffs, we’re seeing equipment stacked in yards and we are seeing primarily the lower-volume wells shut in,” said Rep. Larry Scott, who, in addition to representing Hobbs in the state House, is the owner of Lynx Petroleum.
Projections reflect that pessimism. Daniel Fine, an oil and gas researcher with New Mexico Tech, estimates oil output on New Mexico’s side of the Permian in the second quarter of this year will fall to less than half of what it was before the new coronavirus outbreak.
Nothing is permanent in the Permian particularly during a pandemic.
I drove through Hobbs last month. Lots of motels, apartments, and restaurants going up. A lot of banks are going to take it in the shorts.
Nothing to do with the pandemic, everything to do with 20 dollar a barrel oil.
Greenies are ecstatic!
Now is the time to ban the import of foreign oil.
It is also time to fill the SPR with domestic oil.
It is not OK to let the domestic oil industry die.
Look I feel for anyone that loses their job, been there done that. But really, they lost their jobs because of the pandemic? Or did they lose their jobs because oil prices have been dropping for months due to the Russia/Saudi oil war and a glut of oil on the market.