American Oil and Gas Reporter - January 2016 - 74
Best Practices Improving Predictability
Operator decisions on drilling and completion design variables are converging to best-practice
median values in the Bakken, Eagle Ford and other more mature unconventional plays, but experimentation still is taking place in newer development areas such as the Midland Basin in
regard to lateral lengths and other key parameters.
By Tanya Andrien, Carl W. Neuhaus and Mark Nibbelink
AUSTIN, TX.-While horizontal drilling in the Midland and Delaware basins came
later than in the Bakken and Eagle Ford plays, production grew 140 and 65 percent,
respectively, in 2014. Production from those two basins continued to increase in 2015,
while it plateaued in the Bakken and Eagle Ford.
Within these three unconventional play areas, which accounted for more than 50
percent of active horizontal rigs and new horizontal wells as of the beginning of November,
the reaction to oil and gas commodity prices being cut in half is illustrated most drastically
by the decrease in applications for permits to drill from record highs in 2014.
APDs fell from 2,575 to 811 in the Eagle Ford, from 2,393 to 1,293 in the Delaware
Basin, from 2,655 to 1,358 in the Midland Basin, and from 2,951 to 1,519 in the Bakken.
Even if adjusted for 10 months of activity versus a full year in 2014, the number of
permits filed fell sharply year to year. Since every well drilled is an experiment that
utilizes seismic interpretation, completion engineering and reservoir management, does
the drop in permits imply a restraint on realizing best practices?
Comparing production from horizontal wells drilled during 2011 to the present reveals
production by month for the Eagle Ford and Bakken peaked around 2014, and has been
on the decline since. However, there is still a fair amount of drilling activity, and the
decline in production is less drastic than the decrease in drilling permits would suggest.
Tech Trends 2016
74 THE AMERICAN OIL & GAS REPORTER
American Oil and Gas Reporter - January 2016
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Oil and Gas Reporter - January 2016
Contents
American Oil and Gas Reporter - January 2016 - Cover1
American Oil and Gas Reporter - January 2016 - Cover2
American Oil and Gas Reporter - January 2016 - Contents
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American Oil and Gas Reporter - January 2016 - Cover3
American Oil and Gas Reporter - January 2016 - Cover4
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