WASHINGTON, January 17, 2013 – Oil well drilling trends continue to rise in the fourth quarter of 2012 with exploratory and development wells showing a 15% and 16% increase from 2011’s fourth quarter figures, respectively, according to API's 2012
Quarterly Well Completion Report: Fourth Quarter.
“The oil and natural gas industry expanded oil drilling in 2012 thanks in large part to access on private and state lands,” said Hazem Arafa, director of API's statistics department. “Additional access to our own vast energy resources and streamlined federal permitting would allow for more opportunities to produce U.S. energy while creating more American jobs and generating more revenue for our government."
A year to date comparison of oil wells drilled yields an even larger increase: a 25% increase in total oil well completions from 2011 to 2012 (26,213 to 32,652 wells), according to the report.
The number of total gas wells completed continued to decline in both the fourth quarter of 2012 and in year to date comparisons, despite an uptick in exploratory gas drilling. In the year to date comparison, gas well completions have decreased 26% from 2011 (13,128 to 9,752 wells).
API represents more than 500 oil and natural gas companies, leaders of a technology-driven industry that supplies most of America's energy, supports 9.2 million U.S. jobs and 7.7 percent of the U.S. economy, delivers more than $86 million a day in revenue to our government, and, since 2000, has invested more than $2 trillion in U.S. capital projects to advance all forms of energy, including alternatives.
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The 2012 API Quarterly Well Completion Report is available for an annual subscription through API's primary distributor, Information Handling Services (IHS). If you would like to purchase an annual subscription to this report, please contact IHS at 1-800-854-7179, or visit their website at
www.global.ihs.com.