Almost all companies in the tight oil sector in the Permian Basin fight with each other over territory, like dogs and cats. If they are not fighting with themselves, they are fighting State regulatory agencies and/or the BLM for waivers and exceptions to most all regulations, particularly spacing, well density, etc. There is not a rule that can't be broken, essentially, or overlooked, be it Texas or New Mexico.

Take a gander at the current docket in New Mexico, below, and you'll see what I am talking about. Most of the fighting with the NMOCD is regarding spacing, overlap and compulsory pooling to get more wells drilled.

https://www.emnrd.nm.gov/ocd/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2025-01-09_Hearings-Notice.pdf

Its blood and guts out there and the more pressure depletion sets in, and the fewer wells that can be economically drilled, the bloodier it gets.

afeleaks.substack.com

PR says Spicy Chicken loses 48% of its EUR, not unlike BW3's wing size after PE took the keys.

This is really good one, above, on a number of different interesting fronts, particularly legal, but AFELeaks.com picked up on some interesting implications in one chicken fight about parent/child degradation in Lea County.

I don't have time today to explain all this, afeleaks.com has done basically the most important work, or at least noteworthy. We've discussed before, recently, that in spite of rhetoric to the contrary the better rock situation in Lea and Eddy Counties create MORE likelihood for well interference and ensuing degradation of well quality (eg. EURs). People tend to believe pressure depletion is worse in the Midland Basin, because of well density, not so. 2025 saw some significant declines in well productivity in the Delaware Basin, particularly the Bone Springs correlative interval where some of that stuff can have 23% porosity.

Lea County has carried the entire Permian Basin HZ tight oil play for years. It's now overcooked and its biggest operator is fleeing for Ohio. Eddy next door has now assumed the burden for the entire Delaware Basin and when it looks like this, above, soon, that will be all she wrote for the Permian and all those tens of thousands of remaining drilling locations everybody wants you to believe in will sort of go the way of prairie chickens...or the green chicken on substack.

All this bottom-up analysis and attention to detail is important. Think of it as slowly tracking a wounded animal.

Enjoy the article. Its good.