When the oil industry turns down, capital equipment companies tend to turn down hardest. Why build a new drilling rig, why replace a broken pump, why crank out another mud motor when you’ve already got way too many used ones stacked back in the yard?

So how are the capital equipment-focused market segments looking through 2021? For the chart below we picked three segments from our newest Oilfield Market Report (thanks Missy Parker and David Otte – I know it is a team effort, but you two are carrying the team):

For these three market segments 2014 was the best year ever: $35 billion. 2014 was the best year ever for most oilfield product and service companies, so that is no surprise, and 2021 will be just about the worst ever.

But as quarterly rig counts rise starting soon, capital equipment will follow about 12 months later… mid year 2022.

Patience.