Would or could an operator, (in Texas), slow down the volume of oil, (bop/d), because of a drop in the price of oil and then increase production when oil prices rise again?.
The short answer is yes and yes. Whether they did is another question. As a mineral owner, that is fine with me. I would rather get more value for my product and don’t mind if they leave it in the ground for a reasonable time for a better price. (As long as they don’t damage the reservoir-which they wouldn’t want to do either.) It has been sitting there for millions of years, a few more months won’t hurt. The idea is to manage the reservoir effectively and economically.
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Thanks. I hope they “manage” production too. The output from a couple of my new wells dropped this month and I was wondering why. Although I realize it could be other, temporary, reasons also.
Also, they tend to shut in wells within a one mile radius of any other wells that are being trac’d in order to protect the producing wells.
If the wells are horizontal, then the decline is natural and to be expected. It will continue to do that for several years at a fairly steep rate and then will flatten out and the decline will slow down for perhaps decades of low production.
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