Lower 48 oil and natural gas permitting activity has picked up since the beginning of the year, climbing by 9% through February from a year ago, according to Evercore ISI.

Drilling

There were 188 more permits issued in February month/month (m/m). However, permitting was still down by half from February 2019, on the cusp of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Drilling permits issued in January and February combined were up 50% from the first two months of 2021, analysts said. 

“While permitting may inflect significantly higher near-term, recent declarations from President Biden suggest the government is reluctant to expedite this process, even in light of current geopolitical uncertainty,” Evercore analysts noted.

Evercore uses state and federal data to compile its monthly permitting report....