Public shale drillers in U.S. displace private companies

Shale drilling in the United States is now being expanded by publicly traded companies such as Occidental Petroleum Corp. and EOG Resources Inc. The mentioned oil producers started to crowd out private entities that had been dominating the sphere for more than a year.

As it was stated in a note to investors issued by JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s analyst Arun Jayaram, public drilling companies set up 18 rigs during the last three months of the previous year when their private competitors idled 11 rigs.

The overall expansion of the U.S. drilling fleet in a period from the end of September to December 31 was also mentioned in the note published on January 11. The largest companies, including Exxon Mobil Corp. and Chevron Corp., were placed in the JPMorgan’s analysis in a separate category.

It’s necessary to note that oil explorers have been facing a range of challenges in recent times. Increasing production costs, a tightening labor market, problems with the supply chain, and a worsening supply of good drilling locations have become the major challenges for them.