Posted on 10/09/2014 5:22:18 AM PDT by thackney
...U.S. fracking boom is getting even bigger with advances in drilling...
Each drilling rig in the Eagle Ford shale of south Texas is pumping an average of more than 400 barrels a day than in the dawn of the fracking boom seven years ago, according to the federal Energy Information Administration.
The more efficient drilling has helped Texas to more than double its oil production in the past three years, topping three million barrels a day for the first time since the late 1970s.
“The productivity of oil and natural gas wells is steadily increasing in many basins across the United States,” federal energy analysts said in a research memo.
The United States has surpassed Saudi Arabia and Russia to become the world’s biggest oil producer, with Texas and North Dakota accounting for more than half of American drilling.
The U.S. also is now the world’s biggest producer of natural gas. This American energy boom is because of hydraulic fracturing, known as fracking, in which massive amount of high pressure water with chemicals are pumped underground to break shale rock and release the oil and natural gas trapped inside.
Drillers have honed their fracking techniques since the start of the energy boom and are now getting far more oil and gas from each rig. Five of the six major shale areas in the United States have seen increased production per rig in the last few years, with Eagle Ford leading the efficiency increase in oil drilling and the Marcellus shale of Pennsylvania tops for natural gas.
The number of rigs in the Eagle Ford has actually dropped in the past two years, and wells decline in productivity by some 70 percent after the first year. But total oil production in the area has still skyrocketed with increasingly sophisticated drilling techniques.
(Excerpt) Read more at star-telegram.com ...
As the price of oil stands now, fracking is still cost efficient. What happens when oil drops below $70/barrel? Or will the government make strides to ensure that doesn’t happen?
As the price declines, more expensive sources of oil like tight shale, deep water offshore, etc, will get less investment dollars. New production will decline. Existing production always declines with out more investment for additional wells, enhanced recovery methods, etc.
Which is why the Saudis and their PR machine are pulling out all the stops to stop it.
article nails it for the 2 reasons for improved production from wells.
When the Bakken started just ten years ago, the completion cost of a typical well was only about 10-15% of the total well cost. Now it is over 50% as companies recognize drilling efficiency improvements but more importantly the necessity of a larger frac job.
what they were doing before was like putting oil tires on a brand new car and expecting fast performance. couldn’t happen as the new car was hampered by tires not able to go fast.
They are now putting on new hi-speed tires on their new cars and able to go fast.
only problem is it does cost more, so there is less ability to withstand a downturn in price.
the other reason for better wells is what the article says is the better places have been identified and that is where the drilling is happening now.
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