Oil and gas executives answered questions on capital spending and workforce changes in a special questions segment of the fourth quarter Dallas Fed Energy Survey.
In this segment, participants were asked what their expectations were for their firm’s capital spending in 2026 versus 2025. Executives from 124 oil and gas firms answered this question, with 26 percent answering “increase slightly”, 24 percent answering “remain close to 2025 levels”, 20 percent answering “decrease significantly”, 19 percent answering “decrease slightly”, and the remaining 11 percent answering “increase significantly”, the survey showed.
“Reponses varied widely among executives,” the survey noted. They survey also pointed out that “responses differed depending on the firm’s size and type”.
“‘Remain close to 2025 levels’ was the most selected response from executives at large E&P [exploration and production] firms (35 percent), whereas the most selected response from executives at small E&P firms was increase slightly (29 percent),” the survey added.
“More executives (48 percent) at oil and gas support services firms expect their firm’s capital spending in 2026 to decrease relative to the number of executives (29 percent) anticipating an increase,” it continued.
The fourth quarter Dallas Fed Energy Survey highlighted that E&P firms were classified as small if they produced fewer than 10,000 barrels per day and large if they produced 10,000 barrels per day or more. Responses came from 69 small firms and 17 large firms, the survey pointed out. Executives from 86 exploration and production firms and 38 oil and gas support services firms answered the question, the survey showed.
“In the U.S., small E&P firms are greater in number, but large E&P firms make up the majority of production (more than 80 percent),” the fourth quarter Dallas Fed Energy Survey noted.
The special questions segment of the survey also asked participants what WTI crude oil price their firm is using for capital planning in 2026. Executives from 119 oil and gas firms answered this question and gave an average response of $59 per barrel, the survey showed, highlighting that the median and mode responses came in at $60 per barrel.
Workforce Changes
The special questions segment went on to ask participants how they expect the number of employees at their company to change from December 2025 to December 2026.
Executives from 126 oil and gas firms answered this question, with 57 percent answering “remain the same”, 17 percent answering “increase slightly”, 17 percent answering “decrease slightly”, six percent answering “decrease significantly”, and three percent answering “increase significantly”, the survey revealed.
Among executives at E&P firms, 61 percent answered “remain the same”, 15 percent answered “decrease slightly”, 14 percent answered “increase slightly”, seven percent answered “decrease significantly”, and three percent answered “increase significantly”, the survey showed.
Forty-seven percent of executives from services firms answered “remain the same”, 26 percent answered “increase slightly”, 21 percent answered “decrease slightly”, three percent answered “increase significantly”, and the remaining three percent answered “decrease significantly”, the fourth quarter Dallas Fed Energy Survey highlighted.
Executives from 88 exploration and production firms and 38 oil and gas support services firms answered the question, according to the survey.
The Dallas Fed states on its website that it conducts the Dallas Fed Energy Survey quarterly to obtain a timely assessment of energy activity among oil and gas firms located or headquartered in the Eleventh District. The Eleventh District encompasses Texas, northern Louisiana and southern New Mexico, the site highlights.
Data for the fourth quarter Dallas Fed Energy Survey and special questions segment was collected from December 3-11. According to the Dallas Fed’s site, 131 energy firms responded to the survey and 128 oil and gas firms responded to the special questions segment.
The next Dallas Fed Energy Survey, the first quarter 2026 survey, is scheduled to be released on March 25, 2026.
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