US shale oil producers shut hydraulic fracturing (fracking) activities when oil prices collapsed due to the coronavirus pandemic earlier this year. Fracking is the most expensive operation of drilling and completing a well. When prices improve, operators bring back fracking teams to work through a backlog of drilled wells left uncompleted (DUCs). Despite prices languishing around $40/barrel, US shale operators are adding their fracking crews thanks to falling service costs.
The current well completions are likely to contribute to an increase in US shale oil production growth in the coming months. An industry consultant said that since mid-September, the number of active fracking fleets has risen by 50% to 127. In September, the number of DUCs in the US shale regions fell to 7,600, from roughly 8,200 in the same month last year.
Producers need to continue the fracking activities to offset the swift decreases in shale well production. According to the Energy Information Administration, US shale oil production is expected to fall to 7.7 million bpd this month from 9.2 million bpd in February. US shale operators add
