This is from yesterday's Director's Cut, June, 2018, data. Years and years ago, Whiting said they were profitable with the price of oil below $25.
I suggested that operators in North Dakota were "managing their assets," suggesting that it is not due to shortage of frack crews. Obviously it's a combination of both, but I think "managing their assets" is the bigger reason why DUCs are increasing. About two months ago, John Kemp said we were entering a period of "severe backwardation." For newbies, North Dakota doubled the number of months operators were required to complete their wells once spud. Up until the Saudi Surge of 2014 - 2016, North Dakota required operators to complete their wells within one year of spud; operators now have two years, and can go longer with a waiver.
Most sources with which I am familiar don't think DUCs are all that significant a metric to follow.
By the way, there should be an inverse relationship between DUCs and inactive wells, all things being equal, as we see an increase of pad drilling and infill drilling.
Except for a decrease back in January, 2018, the number of DUCs has been steadily increasing. The data is updated here; this page won't be updated.
These are the recent stats for DUCs:
June, 2018: 993, up 38 from previous report
inactive: 1,458, down 111
May, 2018: 955, up 13 from previous report
inactive: 1,569, down 48
April, 2018: 942, up 26 from previous report
inactive: 1,521, down 132
March, 2018: 916, up 15
inactive: 1,653, down 1
February, 2018: 901, up 48
inactive: 1,654, down 100
January, 2018: 853, down 24
inactive: 1,554, up 85
December, 2017: 877, down 6
inactive: 1,469, down 23
And the number month-over-month has also been increasing.
- June: up 38
- May: up 13
- April: up 26
- March: up 15
- February: up 48 (North Dakota winters are at their worse in February -- an outlier)
- January: down 24
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