The number of drilled but uncompleted wells (DUCs) in the U.S. shale patch has declined by 27 percent since the peak in June 2020, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) has estimated . DUCs allow exploration and production companies to pump crude oil and natural gas at a lower cost, so it’s no surprise that the number of DUCs has dropped since the peak in June 2020. Back then, operators shut in production because of the low oil and natural gas prices and the crash in global oil demand in the pandemic. E&P firms have tightened spending on drilling activity since the COVID outbreak early last year, and they are tapping more DUCs to maintain production rates. According to EIA estimates, the U.S. inventory of DUCs peaked at 8,874 such wells in June 2020. Nearly a year later, in May 2021, the most recent month available, the EIA estimated that […]