Rigzone reports that “upstream oil and gas companies will have to learn how to operate differently in order to weather the low oil price environment, Deloitte officials said Wednesday.”  

“Unlike the downstream sector, which has been forced to operate efficiently because it doesn’t have the ebbs and flows that upstream does, costs on the exploration and production side have spiraled upwards, said Rick Carr, principal and leader of Deloitte LLP’s oil & gas operations and supply chain, at a media briefing in Houston.”  

“The North America shale market is ‘still pretty embryonic’, with nobody really having cracked the nut of running a lean, efficient operation, said Carr. In the case of North America shale operations, prices for oilfield services have not been dictated by the actual cost of the service, but what people are willing to pay to get a well done. Companies have been willing to pay 30 to 50 percent more than what a material actually costs, said Carr.”