REACHING NEW HEIGHT

摘要

The Permian Basin was thought by many to be in its twilight years-a basin dominated by enhanced recovery,small independents and stripper wells.Permian production by all accounts was heading towards zero,after peaking in the early 1970s.(See Figure 1,blue line.) However,conventional specialists such as Occidental Petroleum Corp.,Apache Corp.,Pioneer Natural Resources Co.,and Yates Petroleum Corp.were all committed to sustaining conventional activity in the basin through the early 2000s,though to varying degrees.Conventional volumes fell below 1 million barrels per day (MMbbl/d) in 2009,but the high oil prices of 2010 through 2013 helped conventional volumes surpass 1 MMbbl/d again in early 2014.Nonetheless,the tides of activity were changing,as unconventionals began to take the industry by storm.