U.S. oil and gas activity in the country’s most productive region dipped slightly in the third quarter while remaining near record highs as industry executives grew concerned about lower prices and economic uncertainty, the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas said Wednesday.
The bank’s latest energy survey includes responses collected earlier this month from 136 energy companies in Texas and parts of New Mexico and Louisiana as the global oil benchmark reached its lowest price in nearly three years.
At the same time, natural gas prices at the main pricing hub for the prolific Permian Basin — located in Texas and New Mexico — have hovered near zero and even at times dipped into negative pricing territory throughout this year, reflecting a national supply glut and a lack of pipeline capacity to take natural gas from the Permian to market.
“Overall, the key point from the survey is that oil and gas activity dimmed in third quarter as uncertainty rose,” Kunal Patel, a senior business economist with the Dallas Fed, told reporters during a press call Wednesday.
