Completion
The work done after drilling to make a well ready to produce — casing, perforating, fracturing, and tying in surface equipment.
Completion is everything done to turn a drilled hole into a producing well. After the rig reaches total depth, crews run and cement casing, perforate the casing across the target zone, often hydraulically fracture the rock, and install the wellhead and surface equipment. Only then can oil and gas flow to a tank battery or pipeline.
The completion date is reported to the state regulator and is a key public record. It usually marks the point where royalty payments will start, once a division order is signed. On modern horizontal wells, completion — especially the frac — is often the single largest cost of the whole project.
A well can be drilled and then sit uncompleted for months as a DUC (drilled but uncompleted). Watching completion activity is one of the clearer signals that production, and royalty income, is near.