To many analysts and investors who monitor energy sector, drilled-but-uncompleted well (DUC’s) counts are an important metric along with CAPEX plans, acreage grades, and regional risk factors that might affect the production level in the near-term. [One might note that "rig count" was not in that short list. LOL.]
As E&P’s increasingly focus on optimizing field development through multi-well pad drilling in a factory style, it is important to understand how this phenomenon could impact the DUC’s going forward. Energent’s undertaking begins with a well-by-well assessment of DUC counts in the major unconventional basins.
Energent data suggests that post-downturn (Q4 2017 – now) accumulation of Permian DUC’s were not only entirely generated by multi-well pads which consist of between 2 and 4 wells but there was also a sharp drawdown of DUC’s from single-well pads totaling nearly 200. This could suggest tightening capital market for smaller E&P’s that mostly drill vertical and deviated wells.
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