COVID Shut-In Choices Across Unconventional Reservoirs: Evidence From the Bakken and the Marcellus

Abstract

The COVID-19 epidemic had unprecedented impacts on oil and gas markets. Vanishing energy demand in this sector led to significant drop of oil and gas prices over a short period of time. Some operators choose to curtail their production at particular wells, while others did not. In this paper, we look at two examples one from an unconventional gas play and the other from an unconventional oil play in the United States. Through public productions data, we tried to decipher the decision process of operators in these areas and compare the differences in shut-in choices.