Infill Thoughts

Unconventional drilling in the Permian’s Midland and Delaware Basins has been increasing at a breakneck pace since 4Q16. Horizontal rigs going back to work on Midland and Delaware formations alone account for 1/3rd of the total increase in Lower 48 rig count since September 30, 2016. Over the past five weeks or …

Reports out late-last week suggested two significant offshore drilling M&A deals were in the making. One of the deals was confirmed Monday morning. The two deals are spearheaded separately by former partners John Fredriksen and Tor Olov Troim. Fredriksen’s deal is deepwater, Troim’s is a shallow water play. John Fredriksen …

This earnings season has been rough on the sand stocks. The sell-off appears to be the classic case of a crowded trade. Sand stocks we monitor had increased 433% from the bottom about this time last year. In the past three weeks (as they reported 4Q16 earnings), they’ve fallen 30%. Big Oil …

Note: Each Friday in March, we are passing the keyboard to one of our readers to share perspective from the field. We hope you enjoy the thoughts these hand-picked contributors have to share. Here is this week’s story… Why am I sitting in a hotel in Midland? It seems a …

Depending on the oilfield service or product line, we’ve heard of price increases of anywhere from 5% to 40% pushed through just in the past few months alone. As service companies look for new angles to justify higher list prices, they are increasingly pointing a finger at the labor pool. …

Supply chain inflation is a trending topic in O&G. One of the biggest debates in the oilfield today centers around the sustainability of the cost reductions E&Ps achieved during the downturn. How much was lasting process change and innovation vs. temporary supply chain price concessions? E&Ps will be far more …

Just a few months ago, US land rig management teams were still touting their long-term contracts as an asset. Highlighting backlog and term duration is a defensive posture contractors assume when operators have pricing power. Rig count can rise. Dayrates can trough. But until management teams start talking about spot …

This week, Infill Thinking attended and participated in the frac sand industry conference hosted by the Petroleum Connection. With a strong agenda, the conference attracted 150 attendees including some of the industry’s biggest executives. In this update, we are sharing some of our takeaways that confirm well established trends and consensus …

At this point, we see field development as a marketplace in the very early stages of turning around. As for a broader recovery in the deepwater markets, it’s not even the first inning yet. It’s more like the stretching routine before pre-game warm ups. There’s going to be a game, but …

The US onshore rig count increased 3 rigs to 733 running last week. The US land rig count is now up 359 rigs from the May 2016 bottom. Much of these gains have come from the Permian, where growth is being driven by horizontal drilling in both the Midland Basin and the Delaware …