Clay Gaspar
Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer at Devon Energy
Thank you, Rick, and good morning, everyone.
Turning to Slide 4. Devon's third quarter performance reflects exceptional operational execution across the board. The third quarter performance is a continuation of outstanding quarterly results and a product of our focused approach to operational excellence. The organization continued to build on the win that we've captured in the first half of the year, positioning us to round out 2024 with very strong momentum.
These results tie back to three key factors, our premier asset portfolio, a talented and value-focused organization, and third, a disciplined capital program designed to optimize returns throughout the cycle. Each of these elements combined to contribute excellent well productivity, improved cycle times and better base production results across our diversified portfolio. I'm confident we will continue to build on these accomplishments into '25 and beyond.
Moving to Slide 5. The Delaware Basin was the primary contributor this quarter to our earnings, with approximately 60% of the capital allocated to this basin. This investment led to record basin-level production volumes of 488,000 BOE per day, representing a 6% growth rate compared to the previous quarter. The volume growth was fueled by 55 new wells primarily targeting the Wolfcamp formation, with a subset of Bone Spring and Avalon wells included in the mix. Collectively, these projects exceeded expectations, achieving average 30-day rates of more than 3,100 BOE per day per well.
On the map to the left, we highlighted one of the primary contributors from this quarter, the CBR 12-1 development. This project co-developed the Wolfcamp A, Wolfcamp B and shallower zones in the Bone Spring. In total, the Stateline area development targeted six different landing zones. We brought these wells online during the second and third quarters, successfully managing any localized facility constraints. The 30-day rates from this 21-well package averaged 3,300 BOE per day per well, and estimated recoveries exceed 2 million BOE per well.
The CBR 12-1 has provided additional insights that have helped us further advance our resource development strategy. As we continue to balance the triple mandate of returns, NPV and inventory, the 12-1 gives us additional confidence of this winning strategy. Our team continues to derisk multiple secondary targets across our core development areas in the Delaware Basin. The great work that the team is doing in balancing the near-term performance with the long-term inventory considerations confirms our confidence in a multiyear runway of outstanding performance from the Delaware Basin.
Turning to Slide 6. We've seen our Delaware Basin well productivity outpace previous year by an impressive 20%. This is evidenced by the robust production growth and superior well results achieved to date. As shown on the right-hand side of the slide, we also continue to realize meaningful operational efficiencies, notably the broader adoption of simul-frac across the Delaware Basin activity has been a key driver, enhancing completion efficiencies by 12% year-to-date and consequently increasing our days online.
From a drilling perspective, our teams are continually finding ways to optimize our rig fleet and improve operations to enhance capital efficiency. These efforts have yielded tangible results, evidenced by a reduction in drilling days and a 14% improvement in drilling efficiencies in 2024 compared to the previous year. Efficiency gains have allowed us to reduce drilling activity from 16 rigs to 15 rigs this quarter. We plan to drop an additional rig in the first quarter as a result of these efficiencies.
At the current pace, we expect to duplicate 2024 16-rig output with 14 rigs in 2025. This impressive efficiency performance is a result of a focus on operational output, without taking our eye off the imperative of doing things the right way. Alongside these incredible efficiency improvements, our safety and environmental metrics have also moved in a very positive direction year-over-year.
Let's now shift to the Williston Basin on Slide 7. We closed on the Grayson Mill transaction in late September. I'm pleased to report that the integration is progressing quite well, and I would add that it is our best integration to date. The teams on both sides have jumped in and are excited about the opportunity to learn, challenge and improve existing processes. We're currently operating in three rigs in the Williston Basin and plan to roughly maintain this level of activity going forward.
In the fourth quarter, production from the acquired assets is expected to slightly exceed our initial expectations, and we plan on investing approximately $150 million of capital in the new assets. For 2025, we aim to sustain the acquired assets at approximately 100,000 BOE per day. Our capital plan will feature two mile and three mile laterals and tactical refracs to supplement the base production.
Enhanced scale in the basin will drive additional capital efficiencies, operational improvements and marketing synergies. The acquisition also adds 500 undrilled locations, further enhancing Devon's free cash flow profile for many years to come.
I'll now hand it over to Jeff to go over the financials for the quarter.