The U.S. oil and natural gas industry is hedging less to avoid leaving money on the table, but overall, operators appear less optimistic regarding their ability to borrow funds, according to a new survey.

“Strong oil and gas prices are not directly resulting in strong borrowing base increases,” Haynes and Boone LLP researchers said in their fall 2022 Borrowing Base Redetermination Survey. “Despite oil and natural gas prices reaching heights not seen since 2014 (in the case of oil) and 2008 (in the case of natural gas), respondents are not expecting robust borrowing base increases in fall 2022. 

“A meaningful percentage of respondents are predicting that borrowing bases will stay flat or even decrease slightly.” 

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