Oil and gas executives say war volatility makes them wary of drilling more wells

Oil and gas firms may be unable to meet President Donald Trump’s call to “drill, baby, drill” this year, as dozens of drilling and exploration executives are now saying they are unlikely to ramp up their operations even as crude prices soar. 

A quarterly survey released by the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas on Wednesday found that, even though prices remain around $100 per barrel, oil and gas executives are wary of drilling new wells amid the war with Iran. 

Prices now are far higher than those required by firms to drill profitably — around $66 per barrel — and are even nearly $40 higher than what is required for firms to break even on new projects. 

As of Wednesday morning, international benchmark Brent Crude was selling at $100.47 per barrel, while West Texas Intermediate was priced at $88.67 per barrel. 

However, roughly half of the exploration and production executives surveyed