Permian EERC pushes to 1,135
EnerCom released its monthly EnerCom Effective Rig Count today.
The Effective Rig Count now reports an equivalent 2,015 rigs active in the U.S., up from 1954 last month. The Effective Rig Count adjusts reported rig counts for increasing efficiency in drilling and completions.
There are significantly fewer rigs active in the U.S. today than in early 2014, but current production is over 1 MMBOPD higher than in January 2014. This production level has been produced with fewer rigs, meaning each rig is yielding higher production than a rig in 2014.
As might be expected, the Permian dominates the Effective Rig Count, with the equivalent of 1,135 of the 2014 rigs. Two basins saw productivity decrease slightly this month, with the Permian and Eagle Ford showing slightly less productive rigs. In each case activity is increasing quickly, and therefore operations are not quite as efficient as they were in late 2016, when cost cutting was king.
253 MBOEPD production growth this month: EIA
The EIA has also released its most recent Drilling Productivity Report, which outlines activity in the major onshore oil and gas plays in the U.S. The EIA’s data indicates that 253 MBOEPD will come online this month, as both oil and gas activity continues to surge. Unsurprisingly, the Permian will show the largest amount of oil production growth, adding 64 MBOPD.
Unlike last month, however, gas production in the Permian will be outpaced by growth in the Marcellus, where an additional 201 MMcf/d will come online. This growth is significantly higher than the 87 MMcf/d the Marcellus added last month.
Marcellus rigs most productive
According to the EIA, the Marcellus has the highest new-well production per rig, at nearly 2,600 BOEPD. The Eagle Ford has the highest oil production per well, at 1,410 BOPD, followed by the Niobrara with 1,289 BOPD.
DUCs continue to grow
Drilling activity continues to outpace completions, as the number of drilled uncompleted wells in the U.S. increased by 154 from May to June. Most of this growth came from the Permian, which drilled 130 more wells than it completed. Of the major regions tracked by the EIA, only the Appalachian basin decreased its DUC inventory, with a DUC drawdown of 31.
