OEF Rapid Review Articles
Nimble U.S. shale oil producers continue to show an uncanny ability to squeeze more and more crude from new wells, allowing them to do more with less as they try to weather another dip in oil prices to $40 a barrel. Comments from Noble Energy, Devon Energy and Occidental Petroleum are significant because only six months ago many analysts were fretting that shale producers had hit a wall after slashing costs and lifting well output by as much as 50 percent since the steepest price crash in a generation started in mid-2014. Now, while acknowledging that most oilfield services costs cannot fall further these companies say they are still seeing output gains from improved well designs and fracking techniques. The rising well output means they can produce more oil with each dollar spent. The pace of innovation is increasing. Pioneer Natural Resources, for example, said it was introducing its third generation of well completion techniques, called version 3.0, using even more sand and water than the super-sized volumes introduced as version 2.0 earlier in the price crash to pull more oil out of rock. Wells fracked using version 2.0 have produced about 2,000 barrels per day in their early days, double the production of earlier wells. Devon Energy Corp, as another example, has cut costs to drill and complete new wells by 40 percent and plans to cut $1 billion in costs this year, said Chief Executive Dave Hager. Roughly half the lower well costs are due to internal technology and efficiency gains, Hager noted, with the rest due to renegotiated contracts with service providers.
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US Frackers Keep Adding Barrels
LINK TO THE SOURCE ARTICLE:
US Frackers Keep Adding Barrels