News Release

Operational efficiencies are driving cost excellence in North America’s onshore drilling

byEnverus

CALGARY, Alberta (June 5, 2024) — Enverus Intelligence Research (EIR), a subsidiary of Enverus, the most trusted energy-dedicated SaaS and generative AI company, has released new research that analyzes which oil and gas plays show the greatest rate of increase in drilling speeds and whether well costs correlate with drilling speeds. In addition, the report looks at how well designs are affecting drilling efficiencies.

“Cost reduction efforts to improve capital efficiency are top of mind for every operator these days. Drilling speed improvements, driven by larger-scale operations and changes to wellbore design, have a measurable impact on well costs, and operators that have the best drilling performance tend to have the lowest costs in a basin,” said Steve Diederichs, a director at EIR and author of the new report.

“Rigs across major unconventional basins last year were 30% more efficient at drilling productive lateral feet per total rig day compared to 2019. In the Permian, the Texas-New Mexico play that produces the most oil in America, the improvement jumped to 35%” Diederichs said.

Key takeaways from the report:

  • Rigs across major unconventional basins last year were 30% more efficient at drilling productive lateral feet per total rig day compared to 2019.
  • Drilling speeds are better correlated with the E&P than the rig provider. We see reasonable correlations between faster drilling speeds and lower-cost operators in both the Permian and Eagle Ford.
  • A higher well count on a pad enables batch drilling and is typically associated with faster drilling speeds. The Midland screens more positively than the Delaware in terms of operators pivoting to larger-scale, pad-level operations.
Enverus-press-release-graph-lateral-footage-per-total-rig-day

EIR’s analysis pulls from a variety of Enverus products including Enverus Intelligence® Research, Activity Analytics, DSU Analytics and Forecast Analytics.

You must be an Enverus Intelligence® subscriber to access this report.

About Enverus Intelligence Research
Enverus Intelligence® | Research, Inc. (EIR) is a subsidiary of Enverus that publishes energy-sector research focused on the oil, natural gas, power and renewable industries. EIR publishes reports including asset and company valuations, resource assessments, technical evaluations and macro-economic forecasts; and helps make intelligent connections between energy industry participants, service companies and capital providers worldwide. Enverus is the most trusted energy-dedicated SaaS company, with a platform built to create value from generative AI, offering anytime, anywhere access to analytics and insights for more than 95% of U.S. energy producers and more than 40,000 suppliers. Learn more at Enverus.com.

Picture of Enverus

Enverus

Energy’s most trusted SaaS platform — creating intelligent connections that uncover insights and opportunities to deliver extraordinary outcomes.

Related News

At the cap, below CONE Why PJM’s capacity market needs a reset
News Release
ByJon Haubert

Enverus Intelligence® Research finds PJM’s current capacity market may not support financeable new gas generation at today’s capital costs. The report analyzes the capacity-price levels and bilateral contract structures needed to make new CCGT projects viable.

ERCOT Large Load Batch Zero Readiness
News Release
ByJon Haubert

Enverus Intelligence® Research analyzes ERCOT’s Batch Zero large-load qualification, estimating that 55 projects (21.7 GW) are positioned to meet the July 15 requirements while 62 projects (37 GW) are likely deferred to Batch 1+. The report outlines key deadlines, financial-security...

What’s next for the Strait of Hormuz?
News Release
ByJon Haubert

Enverus Intelligence® Research’s latest Strait of Hormuz outlook highlights a stocks-driven “higher for longer” setup, modeling OECD crude and product inventories falling from 2.82 Bbbl (YE25) to a 2.36 Bbbl trough in Q4 2026. The report also flags a potential...

Let’s make a deal Brent upgraded, Henry Hub downgraded
News Release
ByJon Haubert

Enverus’ latest Fundamental Edge report, “Let’s Make a Deal | Brent Upgrade, Henry Downgrade,” raises its 2H26 Brent forecast to $110/bbl on a late-June deal and gradual Strait of Hormuz reopening while maintaining a capped summer Henry Hub outlook and...

Class VI approvals build, submissions slow
News Release
ByJon Haubert

Enverus Intelligence® Research’s Class VI Update 1Q26 finds approvals building while submissions slow: three final permits issued in 2026 so far, five draft permits in 1Q26, and active Class VI injection capacity at 5.2 mtpa with forecasts above 100 mtpa...

The Binding Constraint From EUV Machines to Megawatts
News Release
ByJon Haubert

About Enverus Intelligence® Research Enverus Intelligence ® | Research, Inc. (EIR) is a subsidiary of Enverus that publishes energy-sector research focused on the oil, natural gas, power and renewable industries. EIR publishes reports including asset and company valuations, resource assessments,...

Time-to-power gap Big generation’s Achilles’ heel in the AI data center race
News Release
ByJon Haubert

AI-driven data center demand is shifting power markets as faster-to-deploy distributed solutions outpace grid infrastructure; Enverus details the time-to-power gap.

Northern Bets On Canada with Parallax Stake
Analyst Takes News Release
ByAndrew Dittmar

Enverus analysts break down Northern Oil and Gas’ Parallax stake and what it reveals about cross-border capital flows and Canada’s competitive energy assets.

Qatari LNG outage shifts global gas market into structural deficit
News Release
ByJon Haubert

Qatari LNG supply disruptions could shift global gas markets into a structural deficit through 2030, with elevated TTF and JKM pricing, intensified Europe-Asia LNG competition and increased strategic value for Pacific-facing export projects, according to Enverus Intelligence® Research.

Find Out How Enverus Can Help Your Business
Subscribe to the Energy Blog

A weekly update on the latest “no-fluff” insight and analysis of the energy industry.

Let’s get started!

We’ll follow up right away to show you a quick product tour.

Let’s get started!

We’ll follow up right away to show you a quick product tour.

Get Started

Sign up for our Blog

Ready to Subscribe?

Ready to Get Started?