NM oil and gas industry wary of regulatory future abqjournal.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from abqjournal.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
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ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. New Mexico industry leaders respond to the question: “What lasting impact do you believe the pandemic will have on your industry?”
ENERGY
Raye Miller, president of Regeneration Energy Corp. in Artesia
“The oil industry has seen wide price swings in the past year. No one expected to see negative oil prices. While prices have recovered, capital investment has not. Drilling rig utilization is still greatly below a year ago level. Consolidation has occurred and some highly leveraged companies went broke. While new lockdowns could again reduce demand for oil, companies are in better shape to withstand it. Most are reducing debt currently. The greater worry for the future is the drive to stop domestic production of fossil fuels. This strategy is so shortsighted as the U.S. will continue to use fossil fuels for years and every barrel produced outside the U.S. results in mo
Community COVID-19 vaccination clinics increasing in Carlsbad
The first community COVID-19 vaccination clinic in Carlsbad saw more than 500 people receive the inoculation Monday, according to Eddy County’s Emergency Manager.
Jennifer Armendariz said Monday’s clinic at the Walter Gerrells Performing Arts Center was the first of what could be many in Carlsbad.
She said the clinic was a collaboration between Eddy County, the City of Carlsbad, New Mexico Department of Health (DOH) and Carlsbad Medical Center (CMC).
“Our goal is to do those every Monday at the Civic Center with the same support team,” Armendariz said during Tuesday’s Eddy County Board of County Commissioners meeting.
City of Carlsbad update: Better weather on the way
Dale Janway
Well, it’s snowing again on Monday. Our forecast for Monday was for highs around 38 degrees and mixed rain and snow. We seem to be getting quite a bit more snow than the original forecast predicted. Tuesday’s weather forecast says it will be back up to 62 degrees. It’s getting hard to keep up.
We were thankful to have nice weather over the weekend, however. In fact, Carlsbad High School held a small cross-country meet at the Carlsbad beach area, which we believe to be one of the first official sports events in a long time. The Eddy County War – Carlsbad and Artesia’s annual football rivalry- is scheduled for Friday. There will also be high school volleyball and soccer games on March 6. While in person attendance as a fan is still restricted, you’ll be able to watch local high school sports online. We’ll post more information on the return to local sports throughout the week.
Pump jacks at sunrise in the oil fields east of Artesia. (Jim Thompson/Albuquerque Journal)
With oil prices holding fairly steady above $40 per barrel, producers are breathing a bit easier in the Permian Basin in southeastern New Mexico and West Texas.
Most producers have reopened the spigots on existing wells that they shut in last May after the pandemic cut oil demand and sliced prices to 20-year lows. Some operators are even drilling new wells, while others are taking the final steps needed to get oil flowing from ones they drilled before the pandemic hit but that they let sit idle until now.