Collaborative Research: Productivity, Efficiency, and Distortions in the U.S. Shale Boom

摘要水力压裂和水平钻井（水力压裂）生产率的广泛提高极大地重塑了美国能源市场，释放了近 1 万亿美元以前不经济的页岩油气储量。该项目开发了一个详细的数据库，将美国的矿产租赁和井位钻探和生产数据联系起来。然后，该项目使用该数据库记录美国页岩油行业生产率增长的原因，并衡量进一步提高效率的障碍。这项研究探讨了企业的经济和合同环境如何影响石油和天然气生产力和资源配置。通过结合美国多个页岩油区的证据，该项目将提供第一个大规模证据，证明该行业效率的变化如何影响美国石油和天然气市场。此外，数据库的建设是一项宝贵的贡献，极大地促进了未来研究人员进入美国石油和天然气行业的实证研究。第一项研究将量化矿产租赁合同特征所产生的经济扭曲，矿产租赁是石油和天然气公司与私人土地所有者之间的协议。这项研究研究了矿产租赁中的主要条款和特许权使用费条款如何影响公司？钻探决策并衡量其对碳氢化合物供应的总体影响。第二项研究将衡量石油和天然气价格涨跌对生产率增长的影响。许多行业参与者认为，由于人力资本从日常钻探活动中解放出来，生产率的提高在经济萧条时期最为明显。这一论点与标准模型背道而驰，在标准模型中，生产率的提高是最有价值的，因此在价格高的时候进行。该项目将为页岩气行业何时真正实现生产力的大幅提高提供第一个经验证据。第三项研究将探讨美国页岩油行业企业规模的广泛分布，这表明企业之间在生产率以及矿产资产配置不当的范围方面存在重要差异。这项研究将衡量企业和地块的生产率，然后描述低效配置产生和持续的条件。总体而言，这些项目将增进人们对整个经济生产力和分配不当的认识。石油和天然气行业为研究这些问题提供了理想的环境，因为在个人投资层面上可以获得投资和投资结果的数据。此外，将钻探、完井和生产信息与矿产租赁联系起来的数据库允许在这种情况下进行识别。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优点和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

AbstractWidespread improvements in the productivity of hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling (fracking) have dramatically reshaped U.S. energy markets, unlocking nearly $1 trillion of previously uneconomic shale oil and gas reserves. This project develops a detailed database that links data on mineral leases and well-level drilling and production in the U.S. The project then uses this database to document the causes of productivity growth in the U.S. shale business and measure barriers to further improvements in efficiency. This research examines how firms economic and contractual environment shapes oil and gas productivity and resource allocation. By combining evidence across multiple U.S. shale plays, the project will provide the first large-scale evidence of how changes in the efficiency of the industry have affected U.S. oil and gas markets. Moreover, the construction of the database is a valuable contribution that substantially facilitates the entry of future researchers into empirical work on the U.S. oil and gas industry.The first study will quantify the economic distortions generated by contractual features in mineral leases, which are agreements between oil and gas firms and private landowners. This research studies how primary term and royalty clauses in mineral leases affect firms? drilling decisions and measures their aggregate impact on hydrocarbon supply. The second study will measure the effect of oil and gas price booms and busts on productivity growth. Many industry participants argue that productivity improvements are greatest during a bust, due to the freeing up of human capital from day-to-day drilling activity. This argument runs counter to standard models in which productivity improvements are most valuable and therefore undertaken when prices are high. This project will provide the first empirical evidence as to when large productivity improvements actually occur in the shale industry. The third study will explore the wide distribution of firm size in U.S. shale business, which is suggestive of important differences across firms in productivity, and the scope for misallocation of mineral assets. This study will measure the productivity of firms and parcels and then characterize the conditions under which inefficient allocations are generated and persist. Overall, these projects will advance the knowledge on economy-wide productivity and misallocation. The oil and gas industry provides an ideal setting to study these questions because data on both investment and investment outcomes are available at the level of the individual investment. Further, the database linking information on drilling, completions, and production to mineral leases allow for identification in this setting.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.