Outlook 2017 pect to increase drilling levels by 93 percent this year (see Figure 1). Category 2 drillers are more optimistic than category 1 respondents by an 83 to 29 percentage increase margin. By comparison, a Genscape blog post dated Dec. 6 predicts U.S. producers will add 125 rigs by midyear, which would be a 26 percent increase over the Baker Hughes count of 477 for the week ending Dec. 2. Drilling/Spending Plans Discounting respondents to the Survey of Independent Operators that indicated no wells drilled in either 2016 or '17, 70 percent of respondents report they will drill more wells this year, while 14 percent will drill the same number and 16 percent will drill fewer (Figure 2). Category 2 (more active) drillers lead FIGURE 2 Operators' 2017 Drilling Plans Compared with 2016* 100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 58 25 17 Category 1 88 12 Category 2 Will Drill More *Active drillers only 73 12 15 Oil Will Drill Same 71 14 14 Gas 70 14 16 Total with 88 percent of respondents expecting to drill more wells this year, compared with 58 percent of active category 1 drillers. There is less difference between companies targeting primarily crude oil and those who have some natural gas in their drilling portfolios, with 72.5 percent of oil well drillers anticipating increased drilling, compared with 71 percent of gas well drillers projecting an increase. FIGURE 3 Operators' 2017 Spending Plans Compared with 2016* 100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 53 33 14 80 8 12 63 22 15 73 14 14 65 21 14 Category 1 Category 2 Oil Gas Total Will Drill More Will Drill Less Will Drill Same Will Drill Less *Active drillers only JANUARY 2017 57