FRACK, BABY, FRACK: Shale Drillers Look Beyond Texas as Prices Rise. “As Permian Basin experiences bottlenecks, companies look to fields in Colorado, North Dakota, Oklahoma and Wyoming.”

While the Permian Basin in Texas and New Mexico remains the fastest-growing shale spot, congested pipelines and shortages of labor and materials there are crimping profits, making other fields attractive alternatives.

EOG Resources Inc., EOG -1.29% one of the shale sector’s leaders, is active in the Permian but also in Colorado, North Dakota and Oklahoma. In Wyoming, the company has built up larger lease holdings and expanded production over the past two years.

Chief Executive Bill Thomas recently touted the “diversified assets” of EOG’s portfolio when discussing the company’s blockbuster first quarter, in which production rose 15% and profits surged more than 2,000% from a year earlier.

“Last year it was all about, ‘How much can you put in the Permian?’” said Daniel Romero, an analyst with the energy consulting firm Wood Mackenzie. “But now, a few months later, it’s what else are you doing outside of the Permian?”

Let’s see if we can’t drill our way to lower energy prices — again.