Shaleâs fiscal discipline means missing out on rising oil prices By Sheela Tobben and David Wethe on 3/16/2021
Helmerich & Payne shale drilling rig
(Bloomberg) Shaleâs newfound prudence after last yearâs crash is putting producers in the unusual situation of reducing oil output just as prices surge.
More focused than ever on keeping spending in check, shale drillers havenât been boring new wells fast enough to keep up with output declines in older ones. So, next month, their combined production will edge lower by 47,000 barrels a day to about 7.46 million, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Thatâs despite an oil price jump of more than 30% this year.
by Bloomberg
|Tuesday, March 16, 2021
They do not appear to be rushing to start another boom.
(Bloomberg) Shale’s newfound prudence after last year’s crash is putting producers in the unusual situation of reducing oil output just as prices surge.
More focused than ever on keeping spending in check, shale drillers haven’t been boring new wells fast enough to keep up with output declines in older ones. So, next month, their combined production will edge lower by 47,000 barrels a day to about 7.46 million, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. That’s despite an oil price jump of more than 30% this year.
Technology and portfolio high grading enables U.S. shale to defy early predictions
This happy circumstance is largely due to a couple of things primarily. The first is technology making the extraction of more oil per unit of interval than even just a few years ago. And, operator high grading of their portfolios to focus almost solely on Tier I acreage. Tier I acreage, as we have discussed in the past is the low cost, high return play that works particularly well in the Permian with its stacked reservoirs.
Shale drillers have simply been making some prodigious wells in the last couple of years, and this increase in the Productivity Index-PI has made itself known. As an example I would cite Devon Energy s, (NYSE:DVN) recent performance in its core Delaware basin area.
OPEC and its allies could find managing supply to the oil market easier this year, as U.S. shale producers are still not rushing to accelerate output at $60 oil