Indicators

‘Insane’ Volatility Hurts Energy Production Planning, Fed Survey Shows

An oilfield crew works a service rig in Midland, Texas.

Photographer: Eli Hartman/Bloomberg

Volatility in energy commodity prices driven by the ongoing war in the Middle East is confounding firms trying to make decisions about production in coming months.

“The volatility across all the commodities is just insane and makes planning very difficult,” one anonymous respondent said in the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas’ quarterly energy survey, released Wednesday.