Oil producers discouraged by the rising cost of accessing the vast deposits of the Permian Basin are sneaking into a geological back door, through neighboring New Mexico. Oil producers discouraged by the rising cost of accessing the vast deposits of the Permian Basin in Texas are sneaking into a geological back door, through neighboring New Mexico. The state, which covers a smaller part of the oil-soaked shale formation, is the fourth-largest U.S. producer and luring industry giants including Exxon Mobil Corp., Chevron Corp., EOG Resources Inc. and Occidental Petroleum Corp. Their investments — while small compared with Texas — are increasing as activity in the rest of the Permian starts to slow down. In just the past five months, drilling on the New Mexico side of the Permian expanded 25 percent to 75 rigs, while Texas contracted by 2 percent to 490, according to data compiled by Drilling Info […]