Energy services poised for a big rebound

Article Excerpt

The performance of energy services companies is highly dependent on the willingness of their oil and gas production customers to spend money on exploration and new infrastructure. Note, energy producers spend more readily when they generate strong profits and cash flow. Meantime, the higher oil and gas prices that prevailed for most of 2021 are now creating a return to pre-COVID-19 capital spending by many producers. Energy producers are inclined to expand their operations and upgrade their facilities when they become more profitable. The graph shows the correlation between global oil and gas upstream capital expenditures and the price of oil. As one would expect, capital expenditures follow movements in the price of oil. Global oil and gas upstream investments peaked in 2014 when the energy industry spent over $700 billion to expand and maintain its upstream production capacity. But with weaker oil prices between 2015 and 2020, capital spending dropped sharply to $320 billion in 2020. Oil and gas prices are up strongly lately…