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ARTICLE · 29 JUNE 2016

Get Your DUCs In A Row?

Fox Rothschild LLP
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Earlier this spring, we touched on drilled but uncompleted wells ("DUCs") and what impacts these DUCs may have.

United StatesEnergy and Natural Resources
Melissa Lyon
Melissa Lyon
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Earlier this spring, we touched on drilled but uncompleted wells ("DUCs") and whatimpacts these DUCs may have.

This month, it seems that everywhere I turn I see an article on DUCs – which have also been referred to as the "fracklog."

Let's try to get our DUCs in a row – what information do we need to know to have an understanding of what's quacking– oh wait, wrong kind of duck:

  • What is a DUC? "DUC" is shorthand lingo for a drilled but uncompleted horizontal oil well – it is a well that has been drilled but is awaiting completion services.
  • Why are companies drilling but not completing wells? An entire article was devoted to this very subject in Oil & Gas 360 a couple of weeks ago – "Reasons for Not Completing a Well."The main theories behind DUCs seem to be: (1) conserving cash flow – actively drill the well and leave it uncompleted to keep money in the bank in the short term, due to the higher costs of completing a well; (2) the economics of

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