Frac crew levels in general are going to be a function of commodity prices, namely natural gas and crude oil prices. While the relationship is not linear and there are many other factors affecting frac crews, natural gas and crude oil prices ultimately determine the number of frac crews.
Frac crews in the Lower 48 have grown to be more efficient especially over the last few years where it takes fewer frac crews to do the same number of completions in nearly every basin in the Lower 48. Frac crews still have sensitivity to natural gas prices. The higher priced regime for natural gas in 2022 lead to a higher average level of frac crews during 2022. The resulting dramatic decrease in natural prices in 2023 and 2024 lead to decreases in frac crews during the same years. The same is also shown for crude oil prices for 2022 and for 2023 and 2024.
Both crude oil and natural gas prices peaked in 2022 along with frac crews peaking on average during that time.
