US ‘stripper wells’ defy crude slump

While hopes for an oil rebound are fading, smallest operators are doing everything they can to keep up supply Stripper wells pump no more than 15 barrels of oil per day but together over 400,000 wells scattered across the nation’s oilfields produce over a

US “stripper well” operators, the nation’s smallest oil producers seen as most likely to succumb to the crude price slump, are hanging in tough, reducing the chances of near-term production cuts needed to rebalance the domestic oil market.

The conventional wisdom is that “strippers” would be the first to fold in the face of oil’s slide below $40 (Dh146.8) given their tiny size — some may pump as little as few hundred dollars’ worth of oil a day — limited access to capital and high costs compared with bigger, more efficient shale producers.

Yet interviews with executives and experts show those smallest, often family-owned, businesses are also among the most resourceful, keeping the oil flowing even as prices near 11-year lows and a growing number of their wells lose money.

While hopes for a rebound are fading, “strippers” are doing everything they can to keep their “nodding donkey” pumps working so they can hold on to land leases that give them access to oil reserves.

“The small operators of the stripper wells are pretty resilient,” says Mike Cantrell, head of the National Stripper Well Association. “They’ve always made it through and will still make it through.” Stripper wells pump no more than 15 barrels of oil per day but together over 400,000 wells scattered across the nation’s oilfields produce over a tenth of US oil output, enough to affect the market supplydemand balance and prices.

Nelson Wood who runs Wood Energy, a family business founded by his parents more than 60 years ago, has laid off 14 of his 32 employees and closed 10 of 150 wells in the Illinois Basin, but so far the production is down only 4 per cent. “We run some wells at a loss to keep the lease active,” he said.

Darlene Wallace, who inherited her company Columbus Oil after the passing of her husband over a decade ago, has shut in four of her 25 wells in Oklahoma, cutting about a third of production, and is now focusing on overhead costs.

Wallace says she has done everything from getting rid of a postage machine, which saves just $300 a year, to asking her three employees to cover 20 per cent of their health insurance costs, which she estimates could result in annual savings of $10,000.

“I hate to do that to my employees, but we’re all going to have to cut back,” Wallace says.

Cost-cutting steps

Some stripper operators are even deferring necessary maintenance, others are turning to temporary workers to cut employment costs. Many are so small that their owners can roll up their sleeves and do the work themselves if necessary. The stripper well operators who spoke with Reuters said many of their peers are taking similar measures to survive.

Ponderosa Advisors, a Denver-based energy, agriculture and water consultancy, reckons debt-free companies can cover their operating costs even with oil below $35 a barrel. Some produce at a cost as low as $18. That means prices can fall further before any major shut-ins.