Break Even

Crude prices have been at three-year lows this week as the world appears to be awash with supplies. With OPEC apparently not willing to defend higher prices by reducing their output, attention has turned to the likely impact on U.S. shale production of a lower price regime. Today we explore why shale production is unlikely to slow down rapidly and may even increase as producers move rigs to plays with higher returns.

The internal rates of return (IRR) for our model of a typical Haynesville dry gas shale well is in the low teens at today’s gas prices. That is a low return compared to the liquids rich plays that producers are concentrating on these days. The economics of shale well production are calculated the same way for liquid shale plays – there is just more uplift from the higher priced liquids output. And natural gas output continues to surge with associated gas from the liquid wells. Today we complete our analysis of shale production economics.