Mining and Oil & Gas Machinery Manufacturers NAICS 333131, 333132

Aug 23, 2025 - Firms Plan to Trim Capex in 2026

• According to the latest quarterly Dallas Fed Energy Survey, more than a quarter (27%) of oil-and-gas companies active in Texas and adjacent territories plan to cut back on capital spending in 2026 versus nearly 40% who expect spending on capex to rise next year. The survey of business leaders at exploration and development and oilfield services companies found the drop to be concentrated among large producers, with 75% saying they now expect to drill fewer wells this year than planned to at the start of 2025. By contrast, only 34% of leaders from smaller companies said they’ve scaled back their plans. The share of business leaders surveyed in Q2 who said they expect to trim capex in 2026 was the highest since late 2023. Leaders disagree with the Trump administration regarding a viable price per barrel for West Texas Intermediate crude oil.
• The Trump administration plans to open 13 million acres in Alaska to new mining and drilling, overturning Biden-era protections it says prioritized "obstruction over production." It’s the administration’s latest move to fast track US energy production as outlined in Trump’s expansive January executive order aimed at boosting oil and gas drilling, mining, and logging in Alaska. “Alaska, which happens to host 49 out of the 50 US critical minerals and some of the nation's richest deposits of copper and gold, stands to benefit from Trump's push for increased domestic minerals production and … unleashing Alaska's extraordinary resource potential,” according to North of 60 Mining News. To maximize the state’s mining potential the administration aims to reverse Biden-era actions that delayed development of a 211-mile road to the Amber Mining District, a region of Northwest Alaska rich in copper, zinc, gold, silver, cobalt, and other critical minerals.

• The Trump administration in April issued an executive order to accelerate deep-sea mining in international waters. The EO affirms the US’s right to extract critical minerals from the ocean floor, enabling companies to bypass the International Seabed Authority and seek permits directly from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The order expedites the process for reviewing and issuing seabed mineral exploration licenses and commercial recovery permits in areas beyond national jurisdiction under the Deep Seabed Hard Mineral Resources Act. It marks Trump’s latest attempt to capture international deposits of nickel, copper, and other critical minerals following recent efforts to tap resources in Greenland and Ukraine. Remotely-controlled giant robots could be used to extract polymetallic nodules from the seafloor.
• Producer prices for mining and oil and gas machinery manufacturers rose 1.2% in July compared to a year ago, after rising 5.4% in the previous July-versus-July annual comparison, according to the latest US Bureau of Labor Statistics data. Industry producer prices are at record levels, having risen steeply and steadily over the past four years. Among the reasons heavy equipment is getting increasingly expensive is all the technology built into new machines. Employment by the industry shrank 0.7% year over year in June to well below pre-pandemic levels, while average industry wages at agricultural, construction, and mining machinery manufacturers fell 3.8% over the same period to $29.49 per hour, BLS data show.