Crescent Energy delivered one of its strongest operational updates yet in its Q3 2025 earnings call, and the spotlight once again fell on the Eagle Ford. In a basin where many operators are wrestling with declining well performance, Crescent is achieving the opposite: rising productivity, lower capital costs, and improved economics across its footprint. Their results show a company leveraging disciplined operations, technical optimization, and flexible commodity exposure to stay ahead of the curve.
Efficiency Wins: 15% Lower Costs, 20% Higher Productivity
The most striking takeaway came from Crescent’s drilling and completion performance. In the Eagle Ford—where most of the company’s activity was focused this quarter—Crescent achieved a 15% reduction in capital per foot compared to last year’s program. Even more impressive, its 2024–2025 wells are delivering 20%+ stronger well productivity than activity drilled by previous operators.
This combination—lower cost per foot and higher production—is exactly the kind of performance uplift analysts look for when assessing operators who specialize in acquiring and upgrading mature assets. Crescent attributes the improvement to better spacing strategies, higher-intensity completions, and optimized landing zones.
In an environment where many Eagle Ford operators are battling well degradation, Crescent is bucking basin-wide trends and outperforming.
Strategic Pivot Toward Dry Gas Acreage
A second major theme from the call is Crescent’s ability to switch between oil and gas development based on market conditions. For the remainder of 2025, the company is prioritizing drilling on its southern and western Eagle Ford acreage, which carries a higher natural gas weighting.
With the natural gas curve outperforming expectations heading into 2026, Crescent is capitalizing on the price advantage. Several dry-gas wells were even turned in-line late in the quarter, with meaningful volume contribution expected going forward.
Crescent’s commodity flexibility is increasingly a competitive advantage in a world where gas markets are tightening, LNG demand is expanding, and Permian gas constraints continue to influence regional flows.
Beating the Trend: Why Crescent’s Eagle Ford Wells Outperform
When an analyst noted that Crescent’s well results appear to defy the broader deterioration seen across the Eagle Ford, management’s response was telling: this is the company’s acquire-and-optimize playbook working exactly as designed.
Crescent doesn’t just buy assets—it upgrades them. Their strategy includes:
- Smarter spacing to minimize parent/child interference
- Higher-intensity frac designs
- Adjusted landing zones based on geologic targeting
- Better execution across D&C cycles
The company made it clear: these improvements aren’t incremental—they are foundational to their operating model. While other operators may be drilling deeper into fringe acreage and pushing laterals into lower-quality rock, Crescent is proving there’s still meaningful value creation left in the play when assets are re-operated with discipline and modernization.
Eagle Ford + Permian: A Scaled, Flexible Growth Engine
The Eagle Ford isn’t Crescent’s only growth area—its acquisition of Vital Energy expands its presence into the Permian Basin, positioning Crescent as a top-10 independent producer. But what’s notable is that the company repeatedly cites the Eagle Ford as the blueprint for how it plans to optimize its new Permian assets.
If the same operational uplift Crescent achieved in the Eagle Ford can be replicated in the Permian, the company could unlock even more value across its expanded footprint.
The Bottom Line
Crescent Energy’s Eagle Ford results tell a compelling story of:
- Operational excellence in a maturing shale play
- Capital discipline that drives free cash flow
- Strategic flexibility across oil and gas windows
- Consistent gains in well productivity versus previous operators
In a basin that many believe has already seen its best days, Crescent is proving that the Eagle Ford still has room for meaningful upside—if you know how to develop it.
