Re-Fracking -- February 10, 2015

This is an incredible article.

I have a tag at the bottom of the blog on "re-fracking." Originally, the tag related to MRO's re-fracking program, undertaken long before the slump in the price of oil.

Then, with the slump in the price of oil, I suggested we would see a huge change in fracking practices, including re-fracking.

A reader sent me the link to this article yesterday. BloombergBusiness is reporting that drillers take second crack at fracking old wells to cut cost:

New wells can cost as much as $8 million, while re-fracking costs about $2 million, significant savings when the price of crude is hovering close to $50 a barrel, according to Halliburton Co., the world’s biggest provider of hydraulic fracturing services. 

There are a lot of older wells with primitive frack work that are prime candidates for a fresh workover.

“The timing is absolutely perfect for this opportunity,” Freitag said. “Right now, the North American unconventional oil and gas industry is in a bit of a crisis.”

Before the crash, Halliburton had a harder time convincing customers that re-fracking horizontal wells was worthwhile, largely because of inconsistent results. 

The article was actually quite light in data points. Check out the tag, re-fracking, at the end of the blog; you might be surprised.