Ovintiv is divesting nearly all of its Anadarko Basin assets in Oklahoma for $3 billion, exiting ~360,000 net acres and ~90,000 boe/d to sharpen its portfolio and accelerate debt reduction and shareholder returns. The move reinforces Ovintiv’s strategy to concentrate capital in its highest-return core assets in the Permian Basin and Montney, further strengthened by the recently closed NuVista acquisition.
Louisiana drilling held steady this week, with the total rig count rising modestly to 46 rigs driven by a small rebound in the Haynesville and increased offshore activity, while South Louisiana remained flat. Despite the uptick, operators showed continued capital discipline with no new Haynesville wells and very light permitting, led by APEX Natural Gas and Expand Energy maintaining the largest active rig positions.
The Marcellus/Utica rig count has quietly climbed to its highest level in more than a year, signaling a measured return of gas drilling across core Appalachian operators rather than a full-scale ramp. While the Haynesville continues to outpace it in total rigs, the data shows disciplined, sustained activity rebuilding in one of the country’s most important gas basins.
Oklahoma’s rig count slipped by one, but drilling activity in the Anadarko Basin remained unchanged, with all major sub-plays holding steady week over week — signaling disciplined, consistent development rather than a pullback. Mewbourne Oil Company, Continental Resources, Validus Energy, Camino Natural Resources, and Mach Resources continue to anchor activity, supported primarily by Patterson, H&P, and Cactus rigs.
Expand Energy Corporation framed Western Haynesville as a long-dated option, not a 2026 growth pivot, emphasizing it is early-stage, higher-cost, and currently in appraisal with no impact on near-term capital allocation. The strategic value lies in low-cost entry and future optionality if marginal U.S. gas supply shifts to higher-cost basins later in the decade.
Devon’s AI strategy signals that operators are no longer buying tools or services — they’re building AI-driven operating systems that internalize decision-making and compress execution cycles. For OFS companies, this shifts value away from human-intensive services toward clean data, seamless integration, and outcome-based partnerships, while eroding pricing power for stand-alone or non-integrated offerings.
U.S. drilling engineers are increasingly centralized in hubs like Houston and Midland, supporting large, consolidated operators running factory-style drilling programs at scale. As shale matures, the role has shifted from experimental well design to disciplined, repeatable execution—where engineers manage more wells, more capital, and more risk than ever before.
Major operators like Chevron U.S.A. and Oxy employ large drilling-engineering teams because drilling at scale is an industrial system requiring deep specialization, continuous optimization, and rigorous risk management. What looks like excess headcount is actually the technical backbone that enables factory drilling, capital discipline, and safe execution across massive multi-basin portfolios.
TAQA North Ltd.’s newly permitted water disposal facility in the Progress area is a classic infrastructure-first signal, not a reaction to current drilling. In the Deep Basin, operators like TAQA typically build water handling capacity ahead of phased programs, making this permit a credible early indicator of additional drilling or field activity to come.
ARC said it is intentionally slowing development at Attachie after early Upper Montney pads underperformed expectations, emphasizing the issue is completion effectiveness—not geology or resource quality. Management remains confident in the asset’s long-term potential but is prioritizing capital discipline and learning before scaling, with flexibility to reallocate capital to higher-confidence assets like Kakwa.
