BHP trims Texas shale costs with higher recovery rate BHP Billiton's US onshore shale ground could deliver $US1 billion more free cashflow than expected over the next few years, partly because of a dramatic jump in the amount of oil that can be squeezed out of its Texas ground. BHP's new partner in the Eagle Ford, Devon Energy, has revealed it is expecting recovery rates of 20 per cent of the oil in the shale, up from levels of just 7 per cent that the shale industry averaged a year ago.