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CASPER, Wyo. (AP) — Wyoming's oil and gas industry is slowly recovering from two years of low prices and production.
Producers say it will take time for a recent uptick in oil and natural gas prices to hit home in Wyoming, reported the Casper Star-Tribune (http://bit.ly/2hqwHrp).
Peter Wold of Wold Oil Properties says service companies are having trouble keeping up with the modest increase as more rigs operate.
He said these companies do not have as many employees or parts as they used to.
"We are dealing with service companies that are still somewhat struggling — not only with the prices and the lack of business — but they're struggling because of their inability now, with the small increase in rig count we are seeing in the state, of being able to service in a proper fashion," he said.
Wold said he's been forced to look nationwide for people and parts.
McMurry Group operations manager Edie Holmes said producers have also scaled back and have fewer projects lined up for the future.
"That's what you see in a downturn: companies not getting their projects teed up," Holmes said.
"Natural gas and oil is a sunset business; your first day of your well is your best day," she said. "If you don't have anything new coming along behind it, you are declining . You don't see it today, you're going to see it in three, four years."
The Energy Information Administration expects U.S. crude oil production to decline by almost a percent from 2016 to 2017.
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Information from: Casper (Wyo.) Star-Tribune, http://www.trib.com
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