It also turns out that drilling and completion is becoming almost exponentially more efficient.

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In the fourth quarter of 2012 exploration behemoth Anadarko (APC) reported a 40% drop in drilling and completion time along with a 14% reduction in drilling costs in its Marcellus shale performance.

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They test nearby water wells to determine the level of naturally-occurring methane and other contamination before and after drilling in order to ensure that their drilling and completion activities have not caused any issues.

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Halliburton is the biggest player in North America, especially in providing drilling and well completion services in the booming shale gas plays in basins like the Haynesville and Marcellus.

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Schlumberger -- There's a lot of oil-rich nations that refuse to work with Exxon Mobil and Royal Dutch Shell but rely on the technical expertise of Schlumberger for seismic surveys, well drilling, completion and maintenance.

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Under drilling services the company provides drill bits, drilling fluid systems, completion systems, and integrated project management for well construction projects.

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It took away a lot of the risk in the play by drilling 36 producing wells so far and 10 awaiting completion.

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It will use most of the money to fund the completion of its temporary drilling programme, planning applications and feasibility studies for the project, called York Potash.

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Specifically looking at Schlumberger alone, we have captured the increased drilling activity in the rig count estimate and the higher revenues from completion and production activities in the increased revenue per rig figures.

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