SAN ANTONIO—In these difficult times in the industry, companies are narrowing their focus to their core areas. Naturally, it helps if they hold top-tier acreage. In the case of Pioneer Natural Resources (PXD), it has the distinct advantage of owning prime positions in two areas that still can deliver superior economic returns.

Pioneer’s Eagle Ford assets are nicely positioned in the condensate window, smack in the sweet spot of the shale play. The Irving, Texas-based company, also known for its extensive position in the Midland Basin, holds 152,000 net joint venture acres in South Texas, and makes gross production of 120,000 Boe per day from 580 wells. In 2015, the operator’s capital budget for the region was $390 million, said Ken Sheffield, executive vice president, South Texas operations, in a presentation at Hart Energy’s DUG Eagle Ford conference.

Sheffield credits Pioneer’s strong technical bent for its successes to date in its two select unconventional areas. The company collects massive volumes of data using such technologies as microseismic imaging, radioactive tracers, chemical tracers, isotope geochemistry, and more, all with the goal of making better wells at lower costs.

“We moved into the development phase [in the Eagle Ford] in 2012, and we’re still in that phase today,” Sheffield said. “One of the biggest challenges during the development phase is the optimum spacing of the wells we drill and the optimum completions in those wells. There are really no easy answers.”

During its initial development period from 2010-2013, Pioneer emphasized the entire lower Eagle Ford section. Last year, the operator focused on downspacing and staggering programs in the middle and lower Eagle Ford. Currently, Pioneer is running six rigs and is assessing the upper Eagle Ford and evaluating Austin Chalk horizontal potential. Significantly, its 2015 drilling program is focused on Pioneer’s highest return acreage.

The company has been enjoying improvements in drilling costs during its tenure in the shale. In 2011, as it scaled up to full rig count, its cost per foot was $280. By this year, Pioneer had dropped that cost to $170 per foot. Improvements have come from such factors as the shift to pad drilling and the implementation of two-string versus three-string designs, Sheffield said.

“In four years, our full-cycle drill times—rig release to rig release— have been cut almost in half,” he noted.

Well placement is also a focus area: finding just the right spacing for its wellbores is a key concern. Today, Pioneer is drilling its horizontal wellbores 175 ft to 300 ft apart laterally, with vertical distances from 45 ft to 100 ft, as it continues to refine its downspacing and staggering strategies.

Pioneer’s completion designs are also evolving. Initially, the company’s typical well featured a 6,300-ft lateral completed in 15 stages, with some 800 pounds of proppant per foot. It’s done a great deal of experimentation with the various components involved in a frack stage, and it has largely settled on a combination (combo) approach that includes increased barrels per minute, reduced cluster spacing and increased pounds per foot of white sand proppant. “It’s not a one-size-fits-all design. The combo has worked best for most of our areas, but our designs are still put together on an area-specific basis,” Sheffield said.

Efforts to drive down completion costs continue. Pioneer is using dissolvable plugs, streamlining frack fluids and testing diversion technologies. These techniques can save money by reducing the number of stages and increasing the effectiveness of each stage.

In addition to all the operational changes, Pioneer has taken steps to strengthen its balance sheet. In July, Pioneer and Reliance Holding USA divested their Eagle Ford midstream assets. The partners closed the sale to Enterprise Product Partners in July for $2.15 billion, gross. The transaction allowed Pioneer to realize a $725 million pre-tax gain.

“We have taken a number of actions to address the current market conditions, including taking advantage of the lower activity levels to strengthen our portfolio, focusing our drilling activity in the highest return areas, and continuing our ongoing cost reduction strategies,” Sheffield said.

That’s the course Pioneer has charted to navigate these challenging times, and so far, so good.