Operators Flight to Quality Suppliers Is Expected in 2020 and 2021

With oilfield service suppliers having no room to give additional price discounts, E&P operators will turn to quality suppliers who can collaborate and proactively work with operators to identify cost out opportunities and help drive additional operational efficiency improvements.

Findings from Kimberlite’s 2020 Hydraulic Fracturing report reveal that approximately 55% of US land operators expect completion cost to decline on average approximately 6.9% due to current market conditions and overcapacity of oilfield equipment.

45% of operators, however, understand that there is no additional room for oilfield service suppliers to provide any more price discounts. Rather, E&P operators will look toward new technologies such as quick-connect systems, monoline systems, equipment monitoring, data analytics, remote operation capabilities, simultaneous fracturing and other cost out options and efficiency improvement opportunities to drive improved results.

With hydraulic fracturing pricing at historic lows and no room to give additional price discounts, E&P operators will seek out top-performing suppliers. Based on feedback from 192 operators in US land and Canada, the E&P operators report a wide variance in performance among the 24 hydraulic fracturing service providers used and rated with customer reviews.

Some of the lowest performance ratings are observed with equipment quality & reliability followed by technical support as observed in the exhibit above. In addition, the wide variance in performance ratings (ranging from 6.56 to 8.70 on a 10-point rating scale) further supports that not all hydraulic fracturing service suppliers perform at the same level. It will be incumbent upon E&P operators to conduct proper due diligence to identify and seek out suppliers who are able to deliver the best value.

The performance map below for US land helps to illustrate the wide performance among the suppliers and helps to identify those suppliers who deliver the best value and performance. Supplier performance and competitive position do vary, however, by basin. For example, the market share leader, Halliburton, receives favorable customer reviews in the Permian and Bakken but receives unfavorable reviews in the Rockies and Mid-Continent.

Kimberlite will continue to track supplier performance trends by basin and E&P operator needs for 2021 and report updates. Feel free to reach out to discuss further.