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Dan K. Eberhart | Albuquerque Business First | May 29, 2018
When the stampede for acreage in the Delaware Basin began in 2016, many across southern New Mexico had already given up on the state’s oil patch and left for jobs elsewhere. Despite a steady recovery, the previous two years of free-falling prices clearly took a toll on the local economy.
Eighteen months later, New Mexico is firmly at the center of a broader national comeback by the oil and gas industry. Last year, New Mexican output was nearly 470,000 barrels a day, up 17 percent from the previous year and more than doubling since 2011. New Mexicans haven’t seen an upswing in output like that since the 1960s.
The revival of the state’s oil sector has brought new employment and investment opportunities. Those opportunities are increasingly among the oilfield service companies that handle the drilling and day-to-day operational activities for the big producers.
My company, Canary LLC, is among those investing in New Mexico. In late 2017, Canary acquired Artesia Field Services, a local firm with decades of experience in the Delaware. The increasing pace of drilling activities in the region – drilling rigs are literally being utilized around the clock – has prompted us to expand our operations and double our staff.
As Canary’s CEO, I am betting on New Mexico because I believe the state’s oil sector has the capacity to continue to grow into the next decade and beyond.