West Texas has experienced one of its worst oil slumps ever in recent years. But this week, as the Wall Street Journal reports,there are signs that a long-awaited recovery may be coming soon.
A recent Wall Street land grab in the Permian Basin has energized the market, and sent some shares soaring. Blackstone Group LP announced last week that it has agreed to invest $1.5 billion toward drilling in West Texas.
Angelo Acconcia, who oversees Blackstone’s oil and gas investing, explained: “It looks like we’ve come out of the trough portion of the [oil] cycle . . . and are on the road to recovery.” Meanwhile, last Tuesday PDC Energy Inc. said it had agreed to buy $1.5 billion worth of West Texas oil fields from a New York investment firm. The company currently has drilling operations in the Appalachian and Rocky Mountains. U.S. crude for October is up 56 cents a barrel since early last week.