Letter from Houston: Fiscal discipline has positives and negatives
No rush for a production rebound makes sense. But it may impact on the long-term attractiveness of a career in oil
The Texas oil industry—and production across much of the US more broadly—has, unsurprisingly, spent a year struggling to adjust for highly uncertain demand conditions. It still also bears the psychological scars of last year’s negative April WTI price. To briefly recap, overwhelming selling demand to close out long positions from paper traders unable to take delivery of physical barrels and a lack of Cushing tank capacity forced the expiring WTI futures contract to previously unseen lows. Physically traded WTI—along with other US grades, which often trade over the counter and share a positive correlation with WTI paper—also weakened considerably. As a reaction, according to the EIA, Lower-48
Also in this section
9 April 2026
The April 2026 issue of Petroleum Economist is out now!
9 April 2026
Offshore operators are working through an FID backlog as the rig market consolidates, helped by improving project economics and a renewed security drive
2 April 2026
Alongside a rapid continued build-out of renewables, China’s latest five-year plan stresses the value of domestic hydrocarbon production for energy security and calls for increased Russian gas imports
2 April 2026
The government is taking important steps to revive domestic production, lift investment and benefit from the geopolitical crisis even if more needs to be done in the longer term






