The precipitous fall in oil prices in recent months has led to a lessening of demand for fracking services.  Where once there were more than 60 companies engaged in hydraulic fracturing, there are now 41.  And one industry expert expects that number to halve over the coming year as demand slides even further. Bloomberg: Half of the 41 fracking companies operating in the U.S. will be dead or sold by year-end because of slashed spending by oil companies, an executive with Weatherford International Plc said. There could be about 20 companies left that provide hydraulic fracturing services, Rob Fulks, pressure pumping marketing director at Weatherford, said in an interview Wednesday at the IHS CERAWeek conference in Houston. Demand for fracking, a production method that along with horizontal drilling spurred a boom in U.S. oil and natural gas output, has declined as customers leave wells uncompleted because of low prices. There were 61 fracking service providers in...(Read Full Post)