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WEBINAR: Where Did All the Capital Go? A Look at Full Life-Cycle Economics on Key US Shale Plays
Thursday, November 12, 2020, 11:30 AM - 12:30 PM MDT
Category: Breakfast Speaker Series

WEBINAR: Where Did All the Capital Go? A Look at Full Life-Cycle Economics on Key US Shale Plays

The story of the US shale revolution is well known. Hydraulic fracturing techniques were executed by Mitchell Energy in vertical Barnett Play gas wells in the early 2000’s, vertical wells matured into horizontal multi-stage frac wells, and one of the largest land leasing campaigns in history exploded as operators chased high gas prices.

As the natural gas market became saturated, the industry started to strip the natural gas liquids (NGLs) out of the gas stream to take advantage of the ever-rising oil pricing. When gas prices tumbled in 2011, and oil prices climbed north of $100/bbl, the industry looked to the liquid rich / oil plays, such as the Williston Basin, the DJ Basin, and the Permian Basin.

The turning point came in November 2014 when oil prices fell rapidly. As prices bottomed out at $22/bbl in February 2015, the industry saw a large exodus of operators and capital from the gas rich plays around the US to the liquid rich Permian. The Permian proved to be the haven for oil and gas development with its multiple pay zone targets, high EURs, low break-even costs, friendly regulatory environment, and access to markets. The rush for land, once again ensued, with the hope of an oil price rebound and promise of high returns to capital investors.

The rapid ramp up in activity from 2015-2018 did not come without challenges as it put strain on the availability of services and people, access to pipelines and markets, and access to frac sand/water. This drove up costs and resulted in mixed results for many companies. In addition, operators soon saw that with higher-than-expected gas and water production, expenses to manage these by-products sky-rocketed. Water handling and disposal became a huge portion of operating expenses and with gas export facilities at
full capacity, companies started to flare gas in large volumes. Associated gas became a waste product, causing operators needed remove the gas and associated liquids from the revenue stream, and in some cases pay a high cost for flaring permits, rather than shutting in wells.

By 2019, a shift in the investment community was well underway. The days of growth-focused investment were coming to an end, and investors wanted to see returns on their investments. As prices still hovered around the $55/bbl range, investors were getting anxious to recover their capital invested in the industry, and throughout 2019 operators all talked about the ability to generate free cash flow. This webinar will analyze the free cash flow for three key unconventional basins across the US and discusses the associated economic impacts in each basin.

Registration has now closed.


About Our Speakers:

  Deb Ryan
  Sproule
  Senior Manager, Engineering

As Senior Manager, Engineering, Deb is responsible for managing Sproule's Denver office and is part of the team that spearheads Sproule's business development initiatives in the U.S. market. Deb’s 15-years of oil and gas industry experience includes reserve and contingent resource evaluations and audits, US and international fair market evaluations, and expert witness testimony. Deb has experience building dynamic simulation models and also provides instruction for various reservoir engineering classes for PetroSkills. Prior to joining Sproule, Deb held various positions with MHA Petroleum Consultants, Arrow Energy and Woodside Energy.

Deb was recently named as the North American Regional Director for Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) International Board of Directors. She is also on the SPE International Committee of Business Leadership and Management and was previously the Chair of the Denver Section. She currently serves as the Treasurer for the Women’s Energy Network (WEN) Foundation. Deb is also a member of the Society of Petroleum Evaluation Engineers (SPEE) and the Society of Women’s Engineers (SWE). In 2019 she was named by Denver Business Journal as one of the 40 Top Women in Energy and received the 2019 SPE Rocky Mountain Service Award. She is a registered Professional Engineer (PE) in Colorado. 

  Evan Halpern
  Sproule
  Petroleum Engineer

Evan is a Petroleum Engineer with Sproule, based in the Denver office. Evan is a member of the Consulting Services group at Sproule, supporting reserve evaluations, due diligence, and reservoir characterization projects in the U.S. and internationally. He also supports the team that spearheads Sproule’s business development initiatives in the U.S. market.

During Evan’s 4+ years of experience in the industry he has worked on six of the major unconventional basins in the United States in addition to an enhanced oil recovery (EOR) project in the Permian. He has also worked on reserve evaluation projects in Central America and Canada, and coal bed methane (CBM) reservoir characterization projects internationally. Prior to joining Sproule, Evan worked for Newfield Exploration, Whiting Petroleum, and Chesapeake Energy Corporation.

Evan is a member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE), Young Professionals in Energy (YPE), and Denver Petroleum Club (DPC). In 2020, Evan was selected to be a mentee in the DPC mentorship program. Evan graduated from Colorado School of Mines in 2018 with a Bachelor of Science in Petroleum Engineering.