Enverus last week released a basin-by-basin look at North American drilling inventory with analysis of well locations remaining at various prices. The Calgary-based research firm estimates there are 125,000 remaining undeveloped locations holding 60 billion barrels of oil that break even below $40 WTI across North America. Enverus said Delaware and Midland basins comprise 85 percent of the sub-$40 WTI North American oil inventory.
Dane Gregoris, managing director, added, “The limited response of U.S. crude oil and gas production to high commodity prices primarily reflects ongoing capital discipline by producers as well as availability constraints of drilling rigs, frac fleets and labor. Inventory exhaustion is not the problem in our view… We expect many non-Permian oil plays will face inventory exhaustion by the end of the decade at current activity levels.”
Enverus said privately funded companies are running 45 percent of drilling rigs and 50 percent of completion crews in today’s U.S. growth basins – Delaware and Midland in west Texas and Haynesville.
