Conversely, falling oil prices can squeeze profitability, particularly for higher-cost producers. Moreover, oil prices influence investment decisions across the oil and gas value chain.

Despite the sharp rise in U.S. oil and gas production in the post-pandemic period, the number of jobs in the sector has fallen significantly, a trend that is set to continue.

OPINION: Strong oil and gas prices, coupled with a major backlog in spending plans resulting from the Covid lockdowns, have unleashed a wave of contracts to be lapped up by the supply sector.

Written by Billy Duberstein for The Motley Fool -> Shares of oil and gas services firm Halliburton (NYSE: HAL) rallied as much as 4.7% on Friday, before settling into a 3.4% gain as of 12:30 p.m. ET.