Uncertainty and investment: Evidence from domestic oil rigs

Abstract

We provide new evidence on the response of investment to uncertainty, using granular and high-frequency (weekly) data on domestic oil drilling and oil prices since 2012, corresponding to the period of widespread horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing in the United States. Weekly data permits much weaker identifying restrictions than is required with monthly data that is common in the literature. We measure domestic drilling activity by the number of rigs drilling for oil, and we measure oil uncertainty by implied volatility from options on oil futures and the return on delta-neutral straddles from options on oil futures. We show that the number of oil drilling rigs are tightly linked to both oil prices and oil uncertainty, and we find that oil uncertainty significantly decreases the number of drilling rigs, with a one standard deviation increase in uncertainty reducing the number of drilling rigs by up to 5%.