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While oil output overall is at record levels, the amount of oil recovered per foot drilled in the Permian Basin of Texas, the main U.S. shale formation for oil extraction, fell 15% from 2020 to 2023, putting it on par with a decade ago. It's going in reverse. The trend is not our friend. There are a number of reasons for the loss in efficiency (discussed below). However, new oilfield innovations, which began being implemented more widely last year, have made it possible for fracking to be faster, less expensive, and higher yielding. Those innovations include drilling much longer laterals and using simultaneous fracking (simul-frac).
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