I love the phrase ‘fiscal responsibility’. I threw that phrase around all the time at my previous job. I worked for an amazing non-profit organization here in Houston, so it was a daily focus. Fiscal responsibility is something that anyone or any company can practice. With the current oil and gas market, I know it is something that my company and our peers are making part of their everyday work life.
We all know the rig counts are down in every shale play. The data below is from the Energent Group’s website and was updated mid April.
Summary of Shale Play Rig Counts
- Permian Basin -7.4% to 264 rigs compared to last week’s 285 rigs
- Eagle Ford -8.8% to 125 rigs from last week at 137 rigs
- Williston Basin -2.2% to 89 from last week’s 91 rigs
- Marcellus stayed flat this week at 70 rigs
- Mississippian stayed flat this week at 40 rigs
- DJ-Niobrara -6.7% to 28 rigs compared to 30 rigs last week
- Utica -3.4% to 28 rigs compared to 29 rigs last week
- Cana Woodford -5.0% to 38 rigs from 40 rigs the previous week
- Haynesville -6.9% to 27 from last week’s 29 rigs
If you click the image below it will take you to the company’s website and you can interact with the different shale plays and see where they are at, it’s pretty cool.
So what does all this mean? At the current price of oil and gas companies are now being forced to do more with less. Wells are not as plentiful so what wells are being drilled or are already there are being scrutinized. Hence well optimization. Oil and gas companies are asking themselves all kinds of questions. What can I do to make sure that every piece of equipment at my well sites is making me money and not costing me money? What can I do at the well site to ensure that I am utilizing every drop the natural resources coming off the well? A lot of these questions can be answered with one word, processing. If companies make sure to process their natural resources on site they can help save themselves money. They can use what comes off a well to run machinery on site. Or they can ensure that what they are sending up the line is up to the proper specs to ensure safety and profit.
http://www.eia.gov/petroleum/drilling/pdf/permian.pdf
