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UNCONVENTIONAL: FUELING THE NEXT SHALE REVOLUTION IN OIL AND GAS

OVERVIEW

In an environment of prolonged volatility and price compression, unconventional operators must maintain their focus on optimizing efficiencies and well economics. Leaders, however, will do even more. They will adopt a bold digital strategy—one that continuously links decisions, actions and results. One that places real-time analytics at the center of operations. And one that treats every well, not as an asset to be managed, but as a digital customer deserving an exceptional experience.

Operators that embrace unconventionality will be the ones best positioned to thrive—not just in good times, but in bad.

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KEY FINDINGS

Unconventional operators applied traditional cost cutting measures to ride out what they thought would be a temporary drop in the price of oil. The downturn, however, has been more prolonged than anyone predicted. That spells trouble for shale oil producers. Accenture Strategy has found that:

  • Today’s average shale breakeven price of ~$55 is unsustainable.

  • More than 80 percent of quarterly operating earnings of unconventional operators in the past year have been negative.

In this environment, winners are rethinking operations and their use of innovation. We’ve found that unconventional operators that embrace digital operating models can:

  • Reduce capital and operating expenses by up to 20 percent.

  • Boost base production by up to 7 percent.

Others should follow their lead by asking new questions: What if they based their production operations on data, not instinct?

What if the well became the customer

RECOMMENDATIONS

An unconventional operating model calls for shale producers to:

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AUTHORS

CONTRIBUTORS

Michael Orton        Connect with Michael Orton's Profile/s on LinkedIn. This opens a new window.
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