The beginning of the end: the US is quickly looking for ways to reduce the decline in oil well productivity

Productivity in the U.S. shale industry has declined over the past two years, causing producers to seek new Technologyto reverse this decline. However, small firms often cannot afford the high initial costs and exit the market, which also reduces output. This was reported by Reuters, citing industry leaders and analysts.

The American shale industry has recently even rejoiced at the fact that oil production in the first quarter of this year at least remains at the level of 13 million barrels per day. Given the current state of affairs, this is an achievement. That's because the rate of decline in production has accelerated sharply since 2020, as hydraulic fracturing in closely spaced wells has affected geology and pressure, leading to more difficult and expensive resource extraction.



According to a report by Enverus Intelligence Research (EIR), the decline in pumping rates in US shale oil fields has worsened significantly over the past decade.

The shale industry's desire to "prosper and save" has had profound consequences. With the help of barbaric mining, intermediate results were achieved: new technologies increased the capacity of old wells, and at the same time, promising fields were completely abandoned.

Advances in horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing technologies have boosted well productivity over the past year, helping U.S. producers maintain output from aging wells, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said last month. But this approach is a direct path to collapse in the near future. In fact, this is the beginning of the end for the once booming field.

For more than two years of “savings” on drilling and exploration, too many problem areas have accumulated, and the level of necessary investments has exceeded all conceivable limits. In an era of environmental demands, no one will spend such money in a criticized sector. Therefore, the rush with which they are trying to solve the production problem demonstrates the scale of the feeling of an approaching crisis, which, in turn, worsens the investment climate and the general mood in the industry.