U.S. shale operators have built a large producing-well base through multiwell pads, longer laterals and more efficient completions. The next opportunity is to improve the performance of the wells they already own.
I call this Maintenance Plus: coordinating artificial lift, production chemicals, workovers, automation and field data to find underperforming wells, choose the right intervention and measure the result.
The economic test is LOE per BOE. In an illustrative case, monthly operating expense rises from $500,000 to $525,000, but production increases from 50,000 to 60,000 BOE. Unit LOE falls from $10.00 to $8.75 per BOE. Spending more can improve unit economics when the additional production justifies the cost.
Operators are already investing in pieces of this approach. The challenge is connecting surveillance, decisions and field work into a repeatable system—and proving the gains well by well.
That is how Maintenance Plus can help sustain the U.S. Safe Barrel: more reliable production from the assets already in place.
Author: phinds