Important reading: Dallas Fed Energy Survey

https://www.dallasfed.org/research/surveys/des/2025/2501#tab-comments

Exploration and Production (E&P) Firms

The key word to describe 2025 so far is “uncertainty” and as a public company, our investors hate uncertainty. This has led to a marked increase in the implied cost of capital of our business, with public energy stocks down significantly more than oil prices over the last two months. This uncertainty is being caused by the conflicting messages coming from the new administration. There cannot be "U.S. energy dominance" and $50 per barrel oil; those two statements are contradictory. At $50-per-barrel oil, we will see U.S. oil production start to decline immediately and likely significantly (1 million barrels per day plus within a couple quarters). This is not “energy dominance.” The U.S. oil cost curve is in a different place than it was five years ago; $70 per barrel is the new $50 per barrel.

First, trade and tariff uncertainty are making planning difficult. Second, I urge the administration to engage with U.S. steel executives to boost domestic production and introduce new steel specs. This will help lower domestic steel prices, which have risen over 30 percent in one month in anticipation of tariffs.

The administration's chaos is a disaster for the commodity markets. "Drill, baby, drill" is nothing short of a myth and populist rallying cry. Tariff policy is impossible for us to predict and doesn't have a clear goal. We want more stability.

The disconnection of oil and natural gas markets, specifically commodity pricing, seems to be causing a feast-or-famine effect on the industry. Companies with natural-gas-weighted assets will spend more money in 2025 developing their assets, but oil-weighted companies will decrease capital spending with the current pressure on oil pricing for 2025.

The administration’s tariffs immediately increased the cost of our casing and tubing by 25 percent even though inventory costs our pipe brokers less. U.S. tubular manufacturers immediately raised their prices to reflect the anticipated tariffs on steel. The threat of $50 oil prices by the administration has caused our firm to reduce its 2025 and 2026 capital expenditures. "Drill, baby, drill" does not work with $50 per barrel oil. Rigs will get dropped, employment in the oil industry will decrease, and U.S. oil production will decline as it did during COVID-19.

I have never felt more uncertainty about our business in my entire 40-plus-year career.

Uncertainty around everything has sharply risen during the past quarter. Planning for new development is extremely difficult right now due to the uncertainty around steel-based products. Oil prices feel incredibly unstable, and it's hard to gauge whether prices will be in the $50s per barrel or $70s per barrel. Combined, our ability to plan operations for any meaningful amount of time in the future has been severely diminished.
The only certainty right now is uncertainty. With that in mind, we are approaching this economic cycle with heightened capital discipline and a focus on long-term resilience. I don't believe the tariffs will have a significant effect on drilling and completion plans for 2025, although I would imagine most managers are developing contingency plans for the potential effects of deals (Russia-Ukraine deal, Gaza-Israel-Iran deal) on global crude or natural gas flows. Now these contingency plans probably have more downside price risk baked in than initial drilling plans did for 2025.

Steel prices and overall labor and drilling costs are up relative to the price of oil in 2021 (the same pricing regime but costs are up).

Much more at link

(Bolding mine)