Permian Basin pure-play Ring Energy Inc. is accelerating plans to drill up to eight wells this year on its Northwest Shelf (NWS) acreage amid a rally in oil prices, the CEO said Wednesday.

“We were originally thinking that we were going to pick up a drilling rig to start our next campaign sometime in the summer,” CEO Paul McKinney said during a 4Q2020 earnings call. “But because of the prices being what they are, we’re actually thinking about accelerating our drilling program a little bit. So don’t be surprised when we start drilling in the second quarter.”

Ring, which has moved its headquarters to The Woodlands, near Houston, from Midland, TX, plans to spend $44-48 million on capital projects this year, compared with $30 million in 2020.

Like most of its peers, Ring