Lower prices and investor pressure are curbing drilling in the Permian basin, but midstream frms still expect enough demand for their new pipelines. Crude production growth in the Permian, in west Texas and eastern New Mexico, is slowing. Output has risen by 55,000 b/d a month on average this year, around half of last year’s rate. Producers - eager to show they can return profts to investors rather than spend more on exploration - are curtailing their opera- tions in the prolifc basin. The number of rigs drilling for oil in the Permian has fallen by more than 15pc since peaking late last year.
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