Is an inflection point at hand in the onshore drilling market?

Nearly two years after operators prophesied a transition to liquids rich portfolios, the oil-directed horizontal rig count topped the gas-directed horizontal rig count during the week ending Jan. 6, 2012.

It marks the first time horizontal oil drilling onshore has exceeded horizontal gas drilling since the glory days of the Austin Chalk in the late 1990s. Raise your hand if you remember UPRC.

Figure 1 For the first time since the 1990s, oil-directed horizontal rig count topped the number ...