Wolfcamp Delaware Hydrocarbon Play’s Economic Potential Emerging

Unlike its more developed cousins, the Eagle Ford and the Bakken, the Wolfcamp still has some growing to do to be considered mature, according to the “IHS Energy Wolfcamp Delaware Review.” Found was that the Wolfcamp Delaware has some of the best normalized production of any U.S. onshore play, with average peak production rates of about 120 barrels of oil equivalent (BOE) a day per 1000 feet of lateral well drilled, which is nearly double that of the Wolfcamp Midland Basin average of about 63 BOE a day per 1000 feet of lateral well drilled.

In the Central Gas and Southern Liquids sub-plays, two sweet-spots are developing, notes IHS, and productivity has increased by more than 40% since the first quarter of 2013. The Southern Liquids sub-play has had more activity, with nearly twice the producing horizontal wells—127 versus the Central Gas sub-play’s current 60. “The Wolfcamp Delaware has promise, but right now, it is considered an adolescent in terms of its maturity,” said Reed Olmstead, manager of North American supply analytics at IHS Energy. “The sweet spots are still being defined because these normalized production rates have not shown signs of flattening, which means the limits of the play have not yet been fully delineated and operators are still learning how to best produce from this reservoir.”

As of May 2015 there were more than 3200 wells producing in the Wolfcamp Delaware, with nearly 75% of those drilled as horizontals. Of those 3200 producing wells, more than 475 began production after January 2014. “Additionally, a very high number of operators—150—have produced from the play to date,” Olmstead said, “as compared to fewer than 90 operators in the Eagle Ford Shale. Despite that high number, you have just two operators who are dominant in the play—Concho Resources and Cimarex Energy, who are delineating and testing the limits of the various sweet spots and production streams of the play.”