There is a silver lining to the extended low-price cycle for oil and gas; it spurs operators to seek greater efficiencies and payback. “The big value is in increasing the net present value (NPV) and estimated ultimate recovery (EUR),” says David Browne of Trican Well Service. “In the last several years, many operators have been too busy to stop and look at ways to enhance their hydraulic fracturing methods; if something worked for them, they didn’t have time to examine alternatives. Now, they have more opportunities to look at other technologies and examine ways of improving their entire process.”