2018 is halfway in the books. In the first half of the year, the US unconventional rig count increased 105 rigs to 827, a 15% increase. In the second half, “Bench Basins” are going to have to step up due to takeaway injuries suffered by this game’s superstar. There’s a …
Read More »Some US Independents Are Chomping At The Bit To Raise 2018 Capex, Permian Pipe Aside [New Datapoints & Research Rewind]
After oil’s 2014 crash, the US shale “popularity pendulum” swung hard against animal spirits, moving in favor of capital discipline. Outspending in shale is now taboo on both Wall Street and Main Street. But is the recent societal shift emblematic of lasting structural change or is it simply cyclical banter? …
Read More »You Have To Be A Policy Wonk To Predict OCTG Pricing In 2018
A look at the latest import data, trade protection measures, and capacity and pricing commentary from a market leader. There’s a lot more to this story… Login to see the full update… To read this update and receive our research newsletters, you must be a member. If you are new …
Read More »Land Drilling Market Share At The 2018 Starting Gun
In this update we take a look at market share among the leading land drilling contractors. Starting with winners and losers from 2017, we then look at present share and future market share strategies for the group. In what may be a flattish rig count environment in 2018, the …
Read More »Don’t Read Too Much Into The Permian Rig Count Trajectory Lag. It Is Not A Sign Of Animal Spirit Inflection
We have seen some recent market commentary interpreting a lackluster Permian rig count response to the 4Q17 oil price rally as evidence of a change in E&P behavior or appetite for Permian development. We do not believe this interpretation is accurate. In this update, see what we believe are the real …
Read More »One Million Frac Horsepower In 2018. That Is ProFrac’s Plan & We Caught Up With Management To Learn More
On Wednesday afternoon this week, we had a chance to touch base with ProFrac executives to learn about their ambitious 2018 growth plan. Infill Thinking spoke by phone with Ladd Wilks and Matt Wilks – Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer of ProFrac, respectively. Here’s what we learned… There’s a …
Read More »Land Drilling Rig Capex Is Sinking To New Multi-Decade Lows
As E&P spending continues to recover, land driller spending looks poised to embark on a fourth straight year of decline. Precision Drilling released their 2018 capex program on Monday. We analyze the numbers in this update… There’s a lot more to this story… Login to see the full update… To …
Read More »The Results Of Infill Thinking’s 2018 Outlook Survey Are In…
Last week, we asked readers to answer 13 questions about the outlook for 2018. The focus of our survey was key trends and themes in the US onshore business. Participation was strong, with a diverse mix of respondents – all of whom are well informed on Lower 48 trends. In …
Read More »Reports Of Shale Investment Demise Are Greatly Exaggerated. Don’t Buy The Fake News Lifting Oil Prices… [Rebuttal]
Contrary to the click bait proliferating on other media platforms, US oil producers are not slashing 2017 tight oil investment programs as a result of recent crude oil price volatility. Anadarko’s US onshore investment revision, which became the poster child for so called shale budget cuts this week, is grossly misunderstood. Not only …
Read More »What’s Next For Devon After A Record-Setting STACK Well? Watch Showboat Spud [Follow The Leaders]
Record setting STACK well results announced by Devon on Tuesday morning bode well for what the operator has planned next – a transition to full field, multi-zone manufacturing starting at a nearby location. We share our cliff notes on Devon’s pivotal Showboat project, which spuds imminently. There’s a lot more …
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