This report by EPRINC Non-Resident Fellow Trisha Curtis is part of the Energy Policy Research Foundation’s multi-year research program evaluating the scale and scope of the North American petroleum renaissance. As U.S. producers expand production to meet domestic requirements and the rapidly growing market for pipeline exports and Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG), it is essential that policy makers have a full understanding of the sustainability of the U.S. natural gas production platform. This report addresses the range of challenges and opportunities for expanding U.S. production of natural gas for both domestic uses and export markets through an in depth look at North America’s most prolific oil and gas basin, the Permian. The report can be found here.

EPRINC trustee Ben Montalbano and non-Resident Fellow Trisha Curtis, both co-founders of PetroNerds, have just completed an assessment of oil hedging positions of 25 major oil producers in the Permian Basin.  Hedging is a valuable tool for distributing risk and allowing producers to protect revenue streams from price volatility. Hedges protect producers revenues when oil prices fall, but also limit gains when prices rise.  In addition, when oil prices rise it may limit the supply response if a large volume of unconventional production is hedged. Ben and Trisha’s assessment shows the percent of total production that producers hedge varies, but heading into Q1of 2018 producers hedged about 20% of total output. A copy of their assessment can be found here.

EPRINC Non-Resident Fellow Trisha Curtis and Trustee Ben Montalbano build on some of their previous work concerning US shale productivity in their recent paper entitled “Completion Design and the Impact on US Shale Well Productivity.”They identify the factors contributing to sustained productivity growth in several US shale plays and examine some of the economic constraints facing well efficiency. As the nation adjusts to relatively stable and depressed oil and gas prices, Trisha and Ben’s paper outlines the current industry environment and highlights future challenges to increasing shale productivity. Their paper can be downloaded by clicking here.