When Do Oil and Gas Operators Set Their Budgets for Next Year?

answers

By Amanda Leon, founder of OilMoney.io. Houston-raised, came up in the Houston marketing team of Vallourec, and has run Unrth, a brand and growth studio for oil and gas and industrial companies, since 2017, with her boots on client locations in Midland and Odessa. Last reviewed October 20, 2026.

Each public operator puts its plan in writing on its own dates, so watch release dates, not a budget month. In August 2026, three Permian operators put results, cost outlooks, and plans for 2027 on the record on three straight days. Read what your customer told its stockholders before you call, and time your next visit to its next release.

Three Operators, Three Straight Days

  • August 3, 2026. Diamondback Energy's letter to stockholders, filed as Exhibit 99.2 to a Form 8-K.
  • August 4, 2026. Devon Energy's second-quarter 2026 results, filed as Exhibit 99.1 to a Form 8-K, its first period reported with Coterra, from May 7, 2026.
  • August 5, 2026. Permian Resources' second-quarter 2026 earnings release, filed as Exhibit 99.1 to a Form 8-K.

Your customer's dates will be its own. Find them on its investor page and put the next one on your calendar.

What They Told Stockholders About Costs and 2027

Diamondback, in its August 3 letter, said it had not seen significant service cost inflation outside fuel and fuel-adjacent costs, but expects inflation on fixed costs such as casing through the rest of 2026 and into 2027. If you sell it casing, it has told its stockholders it expects to pay more. If you sell it a service, it told them it hadn't seen big increases outside fuel.

Devon reported 1,359,000 Boe per day for the second quarter of 2026. It bought 16,300 net acres in the heart of the Delaware Basin at the New Mexico federal lease sale for $2.6 billion, adding about 400 locations, with development planned to start in 2027. If you work the Delaware, that's a dated plan you can ask about by name.

Permian Resources reported 376,409 Boe per day for the second quarter of 2026. Year to date in 2026, it closed about 190 transactions in the core of the Delaware Basin for $1.05 billion in total consideration, and its 2026 guidance calls for about 250 gross wells turned in line. A well count is a number a field rep can work with, so ask your contact where his piece of it sits.

One more 2027 date: in the Dallas Fed Energy Survey for the second quarter of 2026, most Permian-focused producers expected natural gas takeaway constraints to be fully resolved in 2027. More in our Permian Basin field guides.

Where to Read an Operator's Plans

Public operators' own published guidance is better data on next year's spend than any rep's guess, yours included. Read it before you call.

  1. Start at the investor page for the latest results and any guidance.
  2. Check the SEC filings. All three releases above were exhibits to a Form 8-K.
  3. Read for four things: well or capital guidance, cost comments, new acreage with a start date, and production.
  4. Write down the date. The next release is your next reason to reach out, with something specific to say.

That works for public operators. For a private one, you're back to asking good questions. For timing on your side of the deal, see how long the sales cycle is in oil and gas.

Where Price Goes Is Anybody's Guess

During the survey period for the third-quarter 2026 Dallas Fed Energy Survey, WTI spot averaged $98.70 a barrel, and respondents expected $88 at year-end 2026, with answers from $70 to $126. In a September 10, 2026 note, the EIA forecast that Permian crude production would average 6.8 million barrels a day in 2026, 3% more than in 2025, and cited March 2026 Dallas Fed breakevens of $69 a barrel in the Midland Basin and $63 in the Delaware Basin.

When the survey's own respondents land that far apart, you don't need a forecast of your own. Walk in knowing what your customer told its stockholders. If price falls and takes your pipeline with it, see what to do when oil drops and your pipeline dries up and selling oilfield services through a downturn.

What to Say When It's Not in the Budget

I've been the one holding the budget. As Head of Marketing at Wetzel's Pretzels, I watched at least $150,000 go out the door to an agency and asked, "Great. So where are our metrics? What are we really getting from this?" When a buyer tells you it's not in the budget, he's often asking the same question: what will this earn the line?

Sometimes "it's not in the budget" is the plain truth. Sometimes it means he isn't sold yet. Don't argue with it. Ask questions that tell you which, and when to come back:

  • "When do you start putting next year's plan together, and who's part of that?"
  • "If this were in the plan, what would it need to save or replace to earn the line?"
  • "Is there a smaller first job that fits this year?"
  • "Can I check back after your next earnings release?"

Then thank him and go. A buyer with no money can't say yes, and pushing makes the next call harder. If the work goes out for bid later, see how to win an oil and gas RFP without being the cheapest bid.

Getting Known Before the Money Is Set

Odds are most of your customers aren't shopping this quarter. In research from about 2021 for the LinkedIn B2B Institute, John Dawes of the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute found companies change service providers about every five years, so roughly 20% are in market in a given year and 5% in a given quarter. And when one does start, 6sense's 2025 buyer research found 94% of buying groups have ranked a shortlist before they engage a seller (more in where oil and gas sales leads come from).

So get on that list while next year's plan is still a blank page. That's the work behind The Warm Walk-In™: your name and your know-how in front of the people who plan the work, in your voice, in the quarters when nobody is buying.

The founder we work with, a fourth-generation oilfield man whose customer base was aging out, grew his LinkedIn followers from 1,974 to 4,232 between Sep 15, 2025 and Oct 19, 2026, and 61% of them work in oil and gas. That following is there between budgets, not only when a bid is open. Read the full story.

Get Your Bison Walk-Around

If a buyer just told you it isn't in the budget, start here before you check back after his next release.

Send us your LinkedIn. We'll send back the Bison Walk-Around: five minutes of plain English on what's costing you callbacks and what we'd build. No call. No invoice. We give first.

Get your Bison Walk-Around

More on our page for oilfield service sales reps and in oilfield service sales in the Permian Basin.

Sources and As-Of Dates

The Warm Walk-In™ is an original method created by Amanda Leon and owned by The Valours Creative Innovation LLC.

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