In the modern shale era, drilling may get the headlines — but workovers and drillouts are the backbone of long-term production. Every well eventually needs maintenance, optimization, or mechanical repair. Wells decline, frac plugs need to be milled out, artificial lift systems fail, and reservoir conditions change.

After reviewing Q3-2025 earnings calls and year-to-date drilling performance across the Delaware Basin, one theme stands out: The Delaware Basin is drilling faster, deeper, and smarter than at any time in its history. Cycle times are falling, lateral lengths are growing, automation is becoming standard, and the top operators are separating from the pack in terms of efficiency, well costs, and multi-bench execution.

The Delaware Basin remains one of the highest-performing oil and gas regions in North America. Despite recurring narratives about “Permian exhaustion” or rising costs, leading operators are telling a very different story—one defined by strong well performance, falling costs, and expanding high-return inventory.

According to the latest U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) Short-Term Energy Outlook and the International Energy Agency (IEA) World Energy Outlook, the United States is now entering a historic growth cycle in electricity demand, driven by data centers, electrification, reshoring of manufacturing, and AI.