Shortage in fracking crew may push oil's biggest bubble to 2018

Chicago

SHALE explorers pushing to expand oil production are struggling to find enough fracking crews after thousands of workers were dismissed during the crude rout.

Independent US drillers underspent their first quarter budgets by as much as US$2.5 billion collectively, largely because they couldn't find enough fracking crews to handle all the planned work, according to Infill Thinking LLC, a research and consulting firm focused on oilfield services and exploration.