Rising US natural gas exports and soaring domestic demand for the power-plant fuel will lead to a shortage of fracking gear later this decade, according to the head of one the country’s top drilling contractors.
Activity in US shale fields is expected to ramp up toward the end of this year into 2027, primarily driven by gas consumption, Patterson-UTI Energy Inc. Chief Executive Officer Andy Hendricks said in an interview. That could lead to a deficit of equipment to frack gas wells in two to three years, particularly in the Haynesville basin of Texas and Louisiana, he said.
Hendricks’ remarks underscore a broader industry push to build pipelines connecting the Haynesville and other gas basins in the US South with new Gulf Coast export terminals. More equipment and infrastructure would align with President Donald Trump’s efforts to expand US shipments of the fuel to overseas buyers and dominate global energy markets.
Global demand for US liquefied natural gas has jumped as the war on Iran disrupts supplies from the Middle East, but Gulf Coast plants are already running at full capacity and other facilities there are still under construction. Meanwhile, domestic US gas consumption has skyrocketed as data-center developers rush to build power plants to run artificial intelligence.
In the Haynesville, the number of drilling rigs has surged over the past year as new pipelines shuttle gas from that basin to export terminals. Producers there are likely to favor fracking equipment that runs on cheaper gas versus diesel, leading to a shortfall of that gear, Hendricks said.
“All the horsepower that we have that can burn natural gas as a fuel is sold out today,” he said. “There’s going to be a call on equipment in the Haynesville over the next two to three years. We’re going to have to increase the amount that’s working over there and it’s going to require new equipment to be manufactured and put to work.”
Patterson-UTI is also evaluating opportunities to operate in Venezuela, but that will take time, Hendricks said.
“I think a realistic timeline is when somebody signs some concessions to do something, you could still be nine months to a year away before you’re actually drilling wells,” Hendricks said.
Photo: Oil drilling rigs in Midland, Texas, US, on Saturday, April 9, 2022. Midland, Texas, is used to booms and busts. But even here, prices are shocking the local economy and the Fed may not be able to help.
Copyright 2026 Bloomberg.
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