Shale Drillers Avoid Emission Cuts From Rockies to Great Plains

Even fewer have any plans to cut back on flaring of excess gas or recycle water used in fracking wells, the Kansas City Fed found in its fourth-quarter survey of energy executives.

Those same managers said they need benchmark crude prices to average about $73 a barrel to justify new drilling and higher output. They foresee oil prices remaining above the $75 level through at least the middle of the decade, the survey found.

The Kansas City Fed’s jurisdiction includes Oklahoma, Wyoming, Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska and parts of Missouri and New Mexico.