Oil field scuttlebut: rising prices charged by services firms. Drilling has ticked upward especially by shale companies. The Wall Street Journal on January 17 published a graph showing per-barrel breakeven price in five major fields at current oil field services pricing; at 15% increase; and at 30% increase. But the graph reveals something else noteworthy: the breakeven price for the Permian Basin is lower on all three scenarios.

If this tidbit is true then there is an encouraging corollary: perhaps the increased activity in shale drilling in the Permian is not just an isolated phenomenon, but rather a bellwether. Second corollary: leaseholders and drillers, get ready. Third corollary: service companies, don’t get too aggressive or too impatient about raising prices – supply and demand still walk in the oil patch.