Eagle Ford, Marcellus Rigs Most Productive: EIA Report
The EIA released its monthly Drilling Productivity Report today, outlining recent drilling and production activity. This report focuses on the Bakken, Eagle Ford, Haynesville, Marcellus, Niobrara, Permian and Utica. According to the EIA, these regions accounted for 92% of domestic oil production growth and all domestic natural gas production growth during 2011-14.
Using EnerCom’s Effective Rig Count (EERC), EnerCom has found that rigs in the U.S. are more than three times more productive today than rigs in January 2014, when oil prices were at their peak. Therefore, while there are 541 total rigs active in the seven major basins, these rigs are yielding levels of production equivalent to 1,653 January 2014 rigs.
One of the key metrics provided by the EIA in the Drilling Productivity Report is the EIA’s estimate of the average new well production added by each rig in a basin. By this metric, rigs in the Eagle Ford are the most productive, with each rig projected to add 1,442 BOPD in April. For gas production, the most productive rigs are found in the Marcellus basin, where the EIA predicts each rig will add 13,233 Mcf/d of production in April.
Source: EIA
As anyone following recent industry trends would likely predict, the Permian is projected to add the most oil production in April. Permian production will grow by 79 MBOPD to reach 2.29 MMBOPD next month. Gas production will grow most in the Marcellus, which will see production increase by 167 MMcf/d to reach 19.19 Bcf/d.
Bakken the only basin predicted to decrease in oil production
Notably, oil production in the Bakken is expected to decrease by 10 MBOPD from March to April. This is the only decrease in oil or gas production among the seven major basins.
The Drilling Productivity Report also estimates the number of drilled uncompleted wells in each of the major basins. The total number of DUCs increased from January to February, rising to 5,443 from 5,352. Most of this increase was due to activity in the Permian, which added 95 DUCs. The number of DUCs also increased in the Eagle Ford, Haynesville and Bakken, though each basin saw smaller increases than seen in the Permian. The Niobrara, Utica and Marcellus all saw a decrease in DUCs from January to February.
Source: EIA
