HOUSTON, Feb. 11 (UPI) -- An emerging shale play in Oklahoma is likely on par with rival basins in Texas and North Dakota, even with low oil prices, analysis finds.
Analysis from Wood Mackenzie finds the South Central Oklahoma Province, or SCOOP, to be economical with a price of West Texas Intermediate crude oil, the U.S. benchmark, as low as $41 per barrel, more than 15 percent below the current price.
"The region will see drawbacks, rig counts are down in the near-term but production won't fall off by much and we expect it to bounce back quickly in 2016," Brandon Mikael, a Wood Mackenzie analyst for the Lower 48, said in a Tuesday statement.
Last year, Continental Resources, which is one of the largest operators in the Bakken oil reserve area in North Dakota, said its acreage in the SCOOP basin was a "significant" part of its growth strategy. According to oil services company Baker Hughes, shale basins in Oklahoma were among those witnessing the biggest gains in wells started last year.
SCOOP lies in part of the Woodford shale that spreads out over the southern part of the state. Wood Mackenzie said the shale area was on par with the Eagle Ford basin in Texas and Bakken.
"The area has some of the largest producing wells in the Lower 48," Mikael said.
Wood Mackenzie expects production to pass 1 million barrels of oil equivalent per day by 2020. Investments in the region should top $4 billion for 2015.
