High-quality onshore drilling inventory is already scarce across the Lower 48, and it’s even harder to come by in mature plays like the Eagle Ford and Bakken.
For operators with existing assets in maturing oil and gas basins, redevelopment should be a key part of their drilling plans going forward, said Ryan Hill, principal analyst at Enverus Intelligence Research, during the 2024 Unconventional Resources Technology Conference (URTeC) in Houston.
“Redevelopment is a bit of an umbrella term for refracs, infill drills, drill-overs and stacks,” Hill told Hart Energy in a recent interview. “But all of them come around on executing on under-completed and high-quality rock that has been left behind while operators have been going after standard inventory programs.”
Operators are redeveloping drilling plans in oily basins like the Eagle Ford, the Bakken Shale and the SCOOP/STACK plays in the Midcontinent.
ConocoPhillips, Marathon Oil, Devon Energy and SilverBow Resources are a handful of public operators reporting positive results from refrac programs in South Texas.
But some of their early results highlight a key theme, according to Enverus: The best refracs still come from the highest-quality rock.
ConocoPhillips and Devon each own large portfolios across the Eagle Ford Shale—and ConocoPhillips is getting even deeper in the play through a $17.1 billion acquisition of Marathon Oil.
Both E&Ps are seeing higher rates of resource recovery from their respective Eagle Ford refracs than other operators in the basin, Hill said.
RELATED
Classic Rock: E&Ps Launch Refracs of Vintage Eagle Ford Wells
But refracs aren’t a magic bullet, either.
An operator typically sees between 20% to 40% of the average uplift from a post-refrac well compared to a new well.
At the same time, a refrac project could run between 70% and 80% of the total cost of drilling a new well, Hill said.
Operators aren’t necessarily saving money on input costs for resources like sand and fluid for refrac projects. Frac crews and labor also still cost money.
And once the refrac project is finished, the recovery results on the other side can be “all over the board” depending on rock quality, existing well spacing and a myriad of other factors, Hill said.
Not everyone is yet convinced: EOG Resources executives have reported they don’t see the value in restimulating older Eagle Ford wells, opting to allocate capital elsewhere.
So ultimately, refracs may not be a macro growth story for maturing onshore basins.
But refracs and other redevelopment projects are expected to extend the production tail, and inventory portfolios, for numerous E&Ps exposed to those areas, according to Enverus’ forecasts.
Outside of redevelopment, operators are discovering efficiencies by drilling longer and longer horizontal wells.
Private equity-backed operators Grayson Mill Energy and Kraken Resources are among the E&Ps benefiting from drilling longer 3-mile laterals in the Bakken Shale.
E&Ps are also getting longer in the Permian Basin. The most recent E&P to swing for the fences was Exxon Mobil in Poker Lake, New Mexico.
Poker Lake, drilled by Nabors’ X12 rig, is the longest lateral in the Permian at more than 20,000 ft.
RELATED
Recommended Reading
GeoPark Announces Production Start at Argentina’s Confluencia Norte
2024-11-12 - GeoPark expects production at the Confluencia Norte Block in Rio Negro, Argentina to reach its peak within 90 days of startup.
Interoil Extends Asset Life with Successful Well Intervention in Colombia
2024-11-11 - Interoil’s intervention brought production at Vikingo well back up to 400 bbl/d of oil.
E&P Highlights: Nov. 11, 2024
2024-11-11 - Here’s a roundup of the latest E&P headlines, including Equinor’s acquisition of a stake in a major project and a collaboration between oilfield service companies.
TGS Awards First 3D Streamer Contract for Summer 2025
2024-11-11 - The contract for TGS’ first 3D streamer acquisition for Northwest Europe’s summer season will begin in May 2025.
Utica’s Encino Boasts Four Pillars to Claim Top Appalachian Oil Producer
2024-11-08 - Encino’s aggressive expansion in the Utica shale has not only reshaped its business, but also set new benchmarks for operational excellence in the sector.
Comments
Add new comment
This conversation is moderated according to Hart Energy community rules. Please read the rules before joining the discussion. If you’re experiencing any technical problems, please contact our customer care team.