{"id":461974,"date":"2025-12-21T10:06:56","date_gmt":"2025-12-21T10:06:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/461974\/"},"modified":"2025-12-21T10:06:56","modified_gmt":"2025-12-21T10:06:56","slug":"oil-and-gas-activity-edges-down-in-q4-as-uncertainty-pessimism-linger-dallas-fed-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/461974\/","title":{"rendered":"Oil and gas activity edges down in Q4 as uncertainty, pessimism linger, Dallas Fed says"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"body-text-paragraph\">Uncertainty and pessimism continued to weigh on oil and gas activity in recent months, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas data showed Wednesday. <\/p>\n<p class=\"body-text-paragraph\">The Dallas Fed\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dallasfed.org\/research\/surveys\/des\/2025\/2504#tab-report\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.dallasfed.org\/research\/surveys\/des\/2025\/2504#tab-report\">quarterly survey<\/a> \u2015 which polled oil and gas executives at<b> <\/b>131 firms across Texas, northern Louisiana and southern New Mexico in early December<b> <\/b>\u2015 found the industry to be in a period of stagnation.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-text-paragraph\">Crude oil prices were down to a 4-year low this week as West Texas Intermediate fell to about $55 per barrel, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2025\/12\/16\/crude-oil-prices-today.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2025\/12\/16\/crude-oil-prices-today.html\">lowest since February 2021<\/a> during the COVID-19 pandemic, outlets reported Tuesday. The price drop is likely a symptom of a widely expected supply glut.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-text-paragraph\">The business activity index, which is the survey\u2019s broadest measure of conditions, came in at -6.2, suggesting a small decline in activity since last quarter.<\/p>\n<p>Business Briefing<\/p>\n<p class=\"dmnc_features-cta-social-article-cta-social-module__3beff secondaryRoman secondaryRoman-20 text-center text-gray-dark\">Become a business insider with the latest news.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dmnc_features-cta-social-article-cta-social-module__8MgJa flex flex-wrap text-gray-dark secondaryRoman secondaryRoman-10 text-center justify-center\">By signing up, you agree to our\u00a0<a class=\"dmnc_features-cta-social-article-cta-social-module__lU9-l border-b border-gray-dark hover_border-0 focus_border-0 active_border-0\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dallasnews.com\/help\/terms-of-service\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Terms of Service<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<a class=\"dmnc_features-cta-social-article-cta-social-module__lU9-l border-b border-gray-dark hover_border-0 focus_border-0 active_border-0\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dallasnews.com\/help\/privacy-policy\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Privacy Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"body-text-paragraph\">The outlook index at -15.2, though slightly improved from -17.6 last quarter, signaled continued pessimism among firms with the uncertainty index remaining elevated and relatively unchanged at 43.4.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-text-paragraph\">\u201cThe oil and gas industry has been in the doldrums recently,\u201d Michael Plante, an assistant vice president at the Dallas Fed, said in a news release. \u201cWhile oil prices have not been low enough this quarter to force a substantial cutback in activity, they were not high enough to support any growth either.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-text-paragraph\">Overall, oil and natural gas production was relatively unchanged from last quarter, with the oil production index hitting -3.4, up from -8.6,<b> <\/b>and the natural gas production index at 0, an increase from -3.2.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-text-paragraph\">Both employment and employee hours declined in the fourth quarter. The equipment utilization index for oilfield services was -12.2, also pointing to a decline.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-text-paragraph\">Respondents said they expect a West Texas Intermediate oil price of $62<b> <\/b>per barrel by the end of 2026.<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"dmnc_features-article-body-embeds-subject-tag-list-with-images-list-with-images-module__P4zn3 inline-block pr-8 shrink-0 w-auto flex flex-col\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dallasnews.com\/business\/energy\/2025\/12\/17\/texas-installed-3gw-of-new-solar-in-q3-enough-to-power-about-384000-homes\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" style=\"aspect-ratio:190 \/ 127\" class=\"dmnc_features-article-body-embeds-subject-tag-list-with-images-list-with-images-module__6H-hI dmnc_images-modern-image-module__QFaG- max-w-full h-auto text-white dmnc_images-modern-image-module__9Zlll bg-gray-light object-contain\" width=\"190\" height=\"127\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/WQALGA7EIZEFJPL5GEX3VBW4UM.jpg\" alt=\"\u00d8rsted project engineer Nikola Bajs (left) and QHSE manager Brian Nicoll walk the...\"\/><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dallasnews.com\/business\/energy\/2025\/12\/17\/texas-installed-3gw-of-new-solar-in-q3-enough-to-power-about-384000-homes\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Texas installed 3 GW of new solar in Q3, enough to power about 384,000 homes<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The Lone Star State is projected to install 36.8 GW of new solar over the next five years, the most of any state.<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"dmnc_features-article-body-embeds-subject-tag-list-with-images-list-with-images-module__P4zn3 inline-block pr-8 shrink-0 w-auto flex flex-col\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dallasnews.com\/business\/energy\/2025\/12\/13\/toxic-water-from-texas-oil-production-is-set-to-be-treated-and-pumped-into-rivers\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" style=\"aspect-ratio:190 \/ 127\" class=\"dmnc_features-article-body-embeds-subject-tag-list-with-images-list-with-images-module__6H-hI dmnc_images-modern-image-module__QFaG- max-w-full h-auto text-white dmnc_images-modern-image-module__9Zlll bg-gray-light object-contain\" width=\"190\" height=\"127\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/WRPDCDDCARDF7DLAHZWDZCZLZE.jpg\" alt=\"Water is becoming such a serious challenge for the Permian, which produces more oil than any...\"\/><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dallasnews.com\/business\/energy\/2025\/12\/13\/toxic-water-from-texas-oil-production-is-set-to-be-treated-and-pumped-into-rivers\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Toxic water from Texas oil production is set to be treated and pumped into rivers<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Oil and gas wells in the Permian Basin generate 21M barrels per day of water laden with salt, chemicals and heavy metals.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-text-paragraph\">This reporting is part of the Future of North Texas, a community-funded journalism initiative supported by the Commit Partnership, Communities Foundation of Texas, The Dallas Foundation, the Dallas Mavericks, the Dallas Regional Chamber, Deedie Rose, Lisa and Charles Siegel, the McCune-Losinger Family Fund, The Meadows Foundation, the Perot Foundation, the United Way of Metropolitan Dallas and the University of Texas at Dallas. The News retains full editorial control of this coverage.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Uncertainty and pessimism continued to weigh on oil and gas activity in recent months, Federal Reserve Bank of&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":461975,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5135],"tags":[5229,1596,28173,79,5495,14055,27812,358,3187,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-461974","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-dallas","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-dallas","10":"tag-dallas-fed","11":"tag-economy","12":"tag-energy","13":"tag-future-of-north-texas","14":"tag-future-of-north-texas-energy-environment","15":"tag-texas","16":"tag-tx","17":"tag-united-states","18":"tag-united-states-of-america","19":"tag-unitedstates","20":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","21":"tag-us","22":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115757007473280922","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461974","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=461974"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461974\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/461975"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=461974"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=461974"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=461974"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}