DUC and recover: a play-level look at the L48 uncompleted well backlog

Drilled but uncompleted wells (DUCs) gained prominence in early 2015 as commodity prices continued to fall and operators chose to leave the resource in the ground until prices improved. The number of wells currently in the DUC backlog represents, at its peak, 250,000 bbl/d of additional crude supply and 4.0 bcfd of gas supply that could come online relatively quickly as prices recover. The decision to complete the backlog can be made at much lower commodity prices as compared to new drill opportunities given drilling costs are sunk and breakeven economics can be up to 30% lower. Based off of our proprietary North American Well Analysis Tool ('NAWAT'), this detailed data set and analysis outlines how Wood Mackenzie estimates and tracks drilled but uncompleted (DUC) wells throughout the US Lower 48.