After increasing in February for the first time in two years, Texas Petro Index declined slightly in March to 138.3 because of a record-setting winter storm, according to economist Karr Ingham. The index fell for the 23rd straight month during the pandemic in January to 131.5, then grew to 138.8 in February before falling again. The index is a monthly tracking measure of the state’s upstream oil and gas economy (base 100 in January 1995, peak 314.0 in November 2014).
“Overall market conditions continue to improve,” Ingham said, “and the Texas Petro Index will ultimately show 2021 as a year of recovery from the covid economy of 2020… Covid in 2020 and winter storm Uri in 2021 represent two back-to-back highly unusual market circumstances. Perhaps the balance of 2021 will bring a much more normal set of oil and gas market dynamics in which prices set by supply and demand determine market outcomes.”