US DUC Wells holds steady at 1,566 wells
No change from previous this month. Monthly EIA Drilling Productivity Report data across 7 major shale basins.
Updated Just nowTotal DUC Wells
As of April 4, 2026
Basins Tracked
As of April 4, 2026
Avg per Basin
As of April 4, 2026
DUC Wells by Basin
UnchangedBasin Details
Explore by Basin
Access This Data via API
Access DUC well inventory data programmatically. Monthly EIA data with historical trends.
/v1/drilling-intelligence/duc-wellscurl -X GET "https://api.oilpriceapi.com/v1/drilling-intelligence/duc-wells"
Sample Response
{
"data": {
"basin": "Permian",
"duc_wells": 893,
"change_from_last_month": 0
},
"meta": {
"source": "EIA Drilling Productivity Report",
"updated_at": "2026-04-04T02:46:06.723Z"
}
}Frequently Asked Questions About DUC Wells
DUC (Drilled but Uncompleted) wells are oil and gas wells that have been drilled but not yet hydraulically fractured and brought into production. They represent a "shadow inventory" of potential future production that can be completed relatively quickly when economic conditions warrant.
Operators may leave wells uncompleted for several reasons: waiting for higher commodity prices, optimizing completion crew scheduling, managing capital expenditures, or holding leases without full development. DUCs provide flexibility to respond quickly to price increases.
Completing a DUC well typically takes 2-4 weeks once a frac crew is mobilized, compared to 2-4 months for drilling and completing a new well from scratch. This makes DUC inventory a near-term production lever for operators.
DUC well data comes from the EIA's Drilling Productivity Report (DPR), released monthly. The DPR tracks DUC inventory across the seven major US shale basins: Permian, Bakken, Eagle Ford, Niobrara, Anadarko, Appalachia, and Haynesville.
Historically, operators have maintained 4-6 months of DUC inventory relative to completion rates. Below 4 months suggests operators are drawing down inventory faster than drilling, while above 6 months may indicate excess drilling or delayed completions.