DENVER—Drilled but uncompleted wells (DUCs) are an appetizing prospect for producers, especially in trying times. “The DUC inventory really allows us a menu of options,” said Heath Mireles, vice president, resource development for Continental Resources Inc. (NYSE: CLR) at Hart Energy’s recent DUG Rockies Conference.

All the technology solution panelists wanted the best drilling and completion meal at the lowest price. In this environment, they have time to mull over their options. Order up? Not quite yet. That’s why there are plentiful DUCs.

Jack Wiener, chief technical adviser for Halliburton Co., estimated that about 400 to 500 of the roughly-4,000 horizontal wells drilled in the D-J Basin over the last five years are uncompleted.

Garrett Frazier, director of Magnum Oil Tools International Ltd., put the total DUC count in the Bakken and D-J Basin at 500 to 600, adding that the number could be off due to months-long lags in completion data.

Mireles reported that Continental has 140 or 150 DUCs in the Bakken/Three Forks. Predicting that number will be 195 by year-end, Mireles is confident about the DUCs’ versatile business benefits. At different times, an operator “could be looking to maximize production, looking to maximize cash flow, or minimize capital exposure,” he said, adding that for now Continental’s plan is “to minimize capital and maximize cash flow, the rate of return on projects.”

Enerplus Resources Corp. runs between five and 15 DUCs, according to panelist Nathan Fisher, vice president of U.S. development and geosciences for the company. Enerplus wants “to stop putting capital into the ground that we wouldn’t be completing,” Fisher said, keeping the DUC count low moving forward.

Fisher believes that there is no exact price threshold that must be met to trigger DUC completion. Over the past two years “as costs have come down so dramatically, the prices that we need for economic returns have changed dramatically,” Fisher said. “Forty [dollars per barrel crude] is the number where things start to get more interesting,” he concluded.

There could be lag time once operators are ready to complete DUCs, as crews are deserting the region in pursuit of more prolific basins elsewhere. The dearth of available crews worries Mireles, while Wiener views it as manageable. “With fewer people, fewer resources, we have become more efficient,” he said, and he believes the industry is prepared “to provide resources very, very quickly” when the time comes.

When DUCs do start coming online, most operators will employ slickwater fracks to reduce costs and garner good initial performance, Wiener said. Hybrids experience higher EURS, especially in the D-J Basin, but “people aren’t looking at 30 years; they’re looking at the first five years of production,” Wiener said.

Wiener cautioned against high-intensity completions due to potential well-bashing and degraded production. Mireles disagreed, saying that while Continental tailors proppant loading for each area of the Bakken, “bigger, for the most part, has been better.”

Falling in the middle of the debate, Fisher said “different plays have different answers.” Mireles and Fisher view well-bashing as an opportunity to enhance performance, saying “it’s almost like re-fracking from the outside,” and “it doesn’t do anything but good things for the offset well,” respectively.

DUCs are as versatile as operators and service providers are voracious for a price rebound. It’s unclear when E&Ps will start completing their DUCs. Will they be able to wait for a rebound? Or could high prices only be dessert?

Annie Gallay can be reached at agallay@hartenergy.com