U.S. drilling estimates for the third quarter of 2007 are at twice the level of third quarter drilling activity recorded during the 1990s and the first nine months of U.S. drilling estimates haven’t been this high since 1985, API data show.
According to API’s 2007 Quarterly Well Completion Report: 3rd Quarter, an estimated 13,543 oil wells, natural gas wells and dry holes were completed in the third quarter of 2007, a 22-year record for the quarter and up four percent from third quarter 2006.
Natural gas continues to be the primary target for domestic drilling. An estimated 7,628 natural gas wells were completed in the third quarter of 2007, the highest third quarter natural gas estimated drilling activity ever.
API’s estimates show that the resurgence in oil well completion activity that began at the start of the decade is continuing into 2007. An estimated 4,544 oil wells were completed in the third quarter of 2007, the highest third quarter oil well estimated drilling activity since 1985.
Total estimated exploratory completions, accounting for almost 10 percent of total estimated completions, increased 21 percent in the third quarter of 2007 compared to the same quarter last year. Estimated exploratory gas completions rose 47 percent over last year’s third quarter. Total estimated development completions remained largely unchanged.
API also reported total estimated footage of 81,009,000 feet drilled in the third quarter of 2007, up nine percent from the third quarter of 2006 and the highest third quarter estimated footage drilled in more than two decades.
