Forbes projects more bankruptcies, mergers and acquisitions within the oil and gas industry this year.

The news agency believes that due to tight access to capital markets, bankruptcies that involve small to mid-size producers will likely accelerate in 2020. Forbes predicts that the tight access has already created a "haves" and "have-nots" segment that will also lead to an increase in mergers and acquisitions.

David Blackmon wrote that there were mergers and acquisitions in December, and that continued level of activity will carry on into the next year.

Blackmon also predicted that the domestic rig count will remain stable for the first half of the year.

"This trend will carry over into the new year, and we should see the situation remain relatively stable, at least until companies revise their budgets for the second half of next year," Blackmon wrote.

Commodity prices will remain the same and shale production will continue to rise, the news agency predicted.

"The mix of producers will continue to evolve, as under-capitalized, highly-leveraged producers are merged into or acquired by larger, more integrated companies," Blackmon wrote. He suggested that this could change if someone like Elizabeth Warren or Bernie Sanders is elected.

Blackmon predicts that U.S. exports for oil and natural gas will continue to escalate, while events in the Middle East will have less impact, as the shift from the Middle East to strategic interests in more stable parts of the world continue.

Blackmon wrote that because of fracking, the ability to move away from depending on the Middle East has helped the U.S. President Donald Trump recently announced he had plans to withdraw troops from Afghanistan.

"This shift in U.S. strategic interests in that unstable part of the world is a true, tangible gift to U.S. national security delivered by the shale revolution," Blackmon wrote.