U.S. shale has now rebounded to a solid financial equilibrium that it makes sense for companies to begin investing in drilling again. The International Energy Agency (IEA) expects U.S. shale drillers to add over 500,000 bpd throughout 2017. Current announcements show the oil price floor, installed by OPEC’s production cuts, have allowed companies such as Hess Corporation and Noble Energy Incorporated to ramp up their budgetary spending by 60% . Hess in particular is bullish on the Bakken in North Dakota with a $2.25 billion budget for 2017. Noble Energy will spend $2.5 billion – a 67 percent jump from last year’s $1.5 billion budget. On top of this, Noble plans to purchase Clayton Williams Energy based in the West Texas Permian for $2.7 billion, giving Noble another 4,200 prospective wells on 120,000 acres. In other words the spigot has been opened, and more rigs and workers are being […]