Oil & Gas Support Services NAICS 213112

Mar 27, 2026 - Conflict Sparks Renewed Shift Toward Oil & LNG Investment

• Supply disruptions and renewed investment in oil and gas are creating a more active but volatile environment for oil and gas support service providers. Energy executives attending the energy industry CERAWeek conference in Houston in March warned that Middle East tensions, particularly around the Strait of Hormuz, could lead to sustained supply tightness, with infrastructure damage and logistical challenges extending disruptions beyond the near term. For support service providers, this outlook signals increased demand for drilling, field services, logistics, and infrastructure support, as companies shift capital back toward LNG and upstream oil and gas projects. Major investments in US LNG facilities and Gulf of Mexico and shale development will likely drive new project activity and service contracts. However, ongoing geopolitical uncertainty and price volatility in the energy markets may create operational unpredictability, requiring service firms to remain flexible.
• The latest Current Policies Scenario from the International Energy Agency (IEA) projects that global demand for oil and natural gas won’t peak this decade, but instead will continue to rise through 2050 under existing policy settings, The Wall Street Journal reports. For suppliers of services to the oil and gas industry this signals sustained opportunity as energy producers are more likely to continue upstream investment, drilling activity, and infrastructure build-out rather than scaling back operations. Previously, under its so-called peak oil scenario, the IEA had forecast a decline in global demand for oil and gas as countries shifted away from fossil fuels and toward EVs and renewable energy sources, according to WSJ. The IEA’s revised outlook extends the demand window for suppliers to energy companies, meaning business plans premised on a rapid fossil-fuel phase-out may need to be revisited.

• Amid a slump in demand for their services from energy producers, oil field services companies are shifting to supply power to data centers, The Wall Street Journal reports. AI requires plenty of power to fuel data centers and oil field services companies, including Solaris Energy Infrastructure and Liberty Energy, are getting into the power business, installing and operating power-generation turbines typically used by energy-hungry frackers, according to WSJ. Compared to their usual customer base, tech companies have healthier growth prospects and bigger budgets. Microsoft alone plans to spend $80 billion on data centers supporting AI this year, 80% more than what major oil companies Exxon and Chevron combined are expected to spend on capital expenditures, per WSJ. Still, power isn’t a meaningful part of most oil-field service companies’ revenue yet and the shift carries the risk that tech companies will eventually connect to local utilities.
• Producer prices for oil and gas support activities were flat in February compared to a year ago, after inching up 0.3% in the previous February-versus-February annual comparison, according to the latest US Bureau of Labor Statistics data. While down from their March 2025 peak, industry producer prices remain historically high. Employment by oil and gas support services firms shrank 5.8% year over year in January to its lowest level in over three years, while the average industry wage rose 5% over the same period to $36.87 per hour, just shy of its record high in March of last year, BLS data show. Declining crude oil prices in recent years have contributed to US oil producers slowing their drilling and completion activity, reducing demand for oil and gas support services, according to the Energy Information Administration.