U.S. petroleum producers are looking forward to better times in 2017 as the industry has passed the low-point in the cycle and embarked on the road to renewed expansion. Domestic oil and gas production hit a trough in the first half of 2016 and showed signs of rising in the second half as drilling picked up in response to higher prices. U.S. oil output was essentially flat between July and October 2016, after sliding between April 2015 and June 2016. Gas output also held steady between July and October, after declining earlier in the year, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. The downward trend in oil and gas output has been arrested by a significant upturn in the number of rigs drilling onshore, especially in West Texas. The number of rigs drilling oil-rich formations across the United States has risen by more than 200, or 65 percent, from […]