The Eagle Ford… Bakken… Permian… Montney… Booming plays with over 50 active operators each. Each operator brings its own development strategy and its own philosophy. While some operators appear successful in every unconventional play they touch, others always seem to come last to the party, or to miss the party altogether. Why?

 Information. With all things being equal (funding availability, access to geoscience and engineering expertise), one variable becomes timely access to quality information and understanding what the data is telling you, faster than the competition.

 “Few if any operators understand how (shale) behaves, why one fracture stage within a well produces 10 times more oil or gas than its neighbor, or how to find sweet spots to overcome inequity.”  Colorado School of Mines Rhonda Duey

 Over 60 operators in the Eagle Ford alone. Studying the strategy and philosophy of each operator in a play would, should, yield insight as to what works, what does not work and why? Landing depth, fracking parameters, lateral length, flow-back design, etc… All may matter, all may contribute to better production rates, better ultimate recoveries and better margins. And yes, each play really is unique.

 WHERE TO LOOK?

 A wealth of information from each operator is buried in shareholders’ presentations, their reported regulatory data, and published technical papers. Collecting relevant information and organizing it correctly will enable engineers and geo staff to find those insights. Today, engineers and geologists cannot fully take advantage of this information as it’s not readily consumable and their time is stretched as it is.

 We all agree, taking advantage of Shale plays is not only about efficiency, but it is also about being effective. The fastest and cheapest way to effectiveness is to build on what others have proven to work and avoid what is known not to work.

 Here are some thoughts on how to leverage external data sources to your advantage:

• Understand the goal of the study from engineers and geoscientists. Optimized lateral completion? Optimized fracking? Reducing drilling costs? All of the above?
• Implement “big data” technology with a clear vision of the output. This requires integration between data systems to correlate data from various external sources with various internal sources.
• Not ready to invest in “big data” initiatives or don’t have the time? Outsource information curation (gathering and loading data) for focused studies.
• Utilize data scientists and analytical tools to find trends in your data, then qualify findings with solid engineering and geoscience understanding.
• Consider a consortium among operators to exchange key data otherwise not made available publicly. If all leases are leased in the play, then the competition among operators is over. Then shouldn’t play data be shared to maximize recovery from the reservoirs?
• Build a culture of “complete understanding” by leveraging various sources of external data.