houston june 22 reuters  oilfield activity slowed further this quarter according to the latest survey of energy executives by the federal reserve bank of dallas with declines in oil production and gas output indices the overall business activity index a broad measure of conditions fell to zero in the second quarter from 21 in the previous quarter the survey of oil and gas executives in texas louisiana and new mexico released on thursday showed us oilfield executives polled this quarter expect crude oil and natural gas prices to continue rising through the end of this year rising oil and natural gas prices play a role in inflation which the fed has been attempting to bring down by increasing interest rates a poll of energy executives at 152 firms found they expect us crude oil prices to reach by yearend about 77 a barrel and natural gas at 297 per million british thermal units mmbtu us oil futures were trading at 7050 a barrel and gas at 255 per mmbtu on thursday oil prices seem to be trading like a financial instrument terrified of this pending recession instead of paying attention to supplyanddemand fundamentals which are pointing to pretty strong draws headed our way said one unnamed executive quoted in the survey firms reported rising costs for a 10th consecutive quarter but the rate of increase slowed at oilfield services firms the input cost index fell to 412 from 616 in the prior quarter the index for exploration companies finding and development costs fell to 149 from 468 margins have been squeezed to the point that it is hard to commit to new projects said one executive in the survey all of the uncertain economic projections give no confidence as to what is going to happen that executive added