Something To Think About: Re-Fracking And The Current Slump In The Price Of Oil -- January 18, 2015

On January 17, 2015, I posted a number of things to think about with regard to the current slump in the price of oil. Rigzone/Wood Mackenzie made this their #2 item on their list of things to think about with the current slump in oil price.

Refracs start to look better than new fracs: Over the past year, lower US natural gas prices drove Marcellus operators to shift attention to horizontal refracs in order to increase recovery rates at reduced costs (~25% lower expenses for a standard well). Successful refrac testing also took hold in gas-rich plays like the Haynesville and Barnett where some operators were able to re-set production rates to early life profiles and, in some cases, increase performance. 

Back in 2011, I started started blogging about MRO's program to re-frack. The linked Rigzone/Wood Mackenzie article only mentions natural gas but ....

In the Bakken there are currently 750 wells waiting to be fracked for the first time, according to the most recent Director's Cut, much, much higher than "usual" number of 350 to 450.

In addition it's my hunch there are 3,000 wells (and that estimate may be very, very low) that are candidates for re-fracking.