At Kayrros, part of our business is to track the drilling, frac’ing and well-completion performance of Oil and Gas operators in all major US tight Oil and Gas basins – an information that we supply to the subscribers of our E&P Intelligence product, most of whom are themselves in the business. Recently, one of our subscribers’ query led us to consider a new question: could the provision of our data affect our clients’ own performance? 

The answer was revealing.

Our client – let’s call him Operator A – posed a seemingly routine question: who is the best performer in the Bakken in terms of drilling and completions performance? To answer, we turned to our proprietary database of performance records going back to 2019 and looked at the track record of the various operators in the basin and how it had evolved over time. We went a step further: we singled out our subscriber from the rest of the industry to see if they behaved differently since they started their partnership with us. 

The results were striking. Average drilling performance in the Bakken, measured in drilled feet per day, has nearly doubled overall in the last six years.  This dramatic improvement reflects not only the recovery of activity from the COVID-19 slump but also the relentless pursuit of efficiency in US shale operations. 

Operator A did even better than that. From being in the lower quartile when we started monitoring performance in 2019, it rose steadily to the top quartile by Q2 2025, eventually ranking among the top three best performers in the Bakken. 

Of course, Kayrros alone cannot take all the credit for this stellar trajectory, but we like to think we played a supporting role. Operator A is not the only star among our subscribers. In fact, its trajectory  is emblematic of how our leading customers use our data to improve their operations .

Key Drivers of Performance

If we analyze Operator A’s performance over the last six years, we can attribute it to several key factors:

• Advancements in directional drilling tools with more powerful and reliable motors and rotary steerable systems
• Fit-for-purpose bit designs tailored specifically to the shale basins
• Widespread adoption of drilling automation technologies
• Drilling optimization using machine learning and AI

Beyond these industry-wide drivers, Operator A deftly used Kayrros insights from high-resolution satellite imagery to amplify their gains in several ways.  By using Kayrros data, they identified best practices from their top-performing peers to refine pad layouts, improve OFS deployment, and accelerate technology adoption — with the effect of substantially shortening cycle times and boosting efficiency.

They also applied Kayrros performance benchmark metrics to screen fast-moving peers for potential M&A opportunities. One of the top-ranked operators in this analysis was subsequently targeted in Operator A’s acquisition strategy.

On the completion side, the story is even more impressive. Fractured footage per day shows a 4x spread between the lowest and highest performers across the same period. With operators adopting more efficient frac’ing techniques such as simul and trimul fracs, the gaps between low and high performers have widened significantly.

Why This Matters:

• For E&P Analysts: Benchmarking operator performance with real-time surveillance supports sharper evaluations of operational efficiency and capital allocation.
• For Investors and Traders: Performance benchmarks can signal near-term production trends, offering an edge in forecasting basin-level supply shifts.
• For E&P Operators: tracking operational efficiency metrics drives performance and help identify improvement opportunities relative to peers.

Conclusion:
Our E&P Intelligence platform allows clients to “go beyond” —unlocking performance benchmarks, uncovering top quartile operators, and identifying key trends and best practices across any basin in the US.

If you’re curious to know who truly wears the crown in the Bakken—or any other major basin—get in touch with our team. At Kayrros, we combine AI and geospatial intelligence to redefine how performance is measured—linking data with innovation and operational excellence—to help you lead today and in tomorrow’s ever-evolving energy landscape.

About Kayrros: 

Kayrros is the world leader in energy and environmental intelligence. It uses AI and geoanalytics to turn raw satellite data into actionable insights on energy, supply chains, physical risks, nature and the environment, working with businesses and governments to make energy systems more efficient, improve supply security, boost climate resilience, and manage environmental impacts while enabling investors, insurers, traders and other stakeholders to make faster, smarter decisions.

For more information visit www.kayrros.com or contact r.guedesdecarvalho@kayrros.com to learn more about our E&P Intelligence products.