OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Oklahoma energy companies are still drilling in spite of low oil prices, but they are putting off costly completion practices like hydraulic fracturing until prices recover.
The Oklahoman reports that drilled uncompleted wells are a new trend in the oil patch, led both by lower oil prices and the drastic technological and procedural changes the industry has experienced over the past decade.
Continental Resources Incorporated CEO Harold Hamm has said completion processes typically represent about 60 percent of the cost of a modern shale well.
Data collected by Oklahoma City-based Oseberg indicates that companies are continuing to show interest in drilling wells. While the number of permitted wells has dropped in recent months, those numbers continue to far outpace the number of wells that have been fracked and completed.