American Oil and Gas Reporter - PBIOS 2016 Official Program Guide - 111

Permian Basin Reports
Ready For Upturn
Pioneer, which has 600,000 gross acres
in Midland, Glasscock, Howard, Martin
and Dawson counties, has 13 rigs in the
northern part of the Midland Basin, but
Hall says the company will increase that
to 17 by the end of the year. It also has
200,000 gross across in the southern
Wolfcamp joint venture area in Upton
and Reagan counties.
Of the 69 wells that went into production in the second quarter, 49 were in
the northern portion (33 Wolfcamp B,
seven Wolfcamp A, eight Lower Spraberry
and one Jo-Mill Shale). Twenty wells
were in the southern Wolfcamp joint venture (all in the Wolfcamp B).
Horizontal wells account for 69 percent
of Pioneer's total Spraberry/Wolfcamp
production. Hall says that over their lifetimes, those wells average 68 percent oil
and 32 percent natural gas and natural
gas liquids, although the gas-to-oil ratio
changes when moving south in the company's acreage.

Pioneer owns its own frac fleets, which
Hall says allows the company "to control
our own destiny."
"We are maximizing efficiency," he
continues. "With each day, we run the
business better and make good, smart
decisions. On the drilling side, we are
reducing our cycle time."
Hall claims Pioneer is poised for the
upturn. "We may have stopped accelerating, but we haven't stepped off the accelerator," he maintains. "Pioneer hadn't
had layoffs, and we have a balance sheet
that has allowed us to stay active. We
didn't want to stop learning. We have
been building three-well pads longer than
anyone."
Pioneer is operating 7,000 historical
vertical wells in the Midland Basin and
is approaching 700 horizontal wells. Hall
says the company has identified approximately 20,020 future drilling locations.
He adds that it is important to plan
for the future. "You have to develop for
the long term," Hall emphasizes. "With

the Jo-Mill, Lower Spraberry, Wolfcamp
A, B and D, and other possibilities, if
you are not being thoughtful about future
development, you likely will face unnecessary challenges. We try to take a holistic
view, whether it is surface and lease
geometry or many other factors. We don't
want to make a mistake today that will
destroy value in the future."
RAB Davidson Pad
Encana Oil & Gas completed the Midland Basin's first 14-well pad, the RAB
Davidson, earlier this year in Midland
County. The pad is named for Randy A.
Brown, the geologist who helped develop
the field, and the Davidson family, which
owns the land where the pad sits.
"Operationally and production-wise,
it was a tremendous success," Encana
Vice President of Southern Operations
Jeff Balmer enthuses. "We had four rigs
drilling simultaneously, and we ran multiple frac crews. We completed it with
eight drill-out groups. The planning and

OCTOBER PBIOS 2016 111

American Oil and Gas Reporter - PBIOS 2016 Official Program Guide

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