Estimated U.S. drilling activity hits 21-year high

[jpak]

http://api-ec.api.org/Newsroom/q3drilling2006.cfm

WASHINGTON - U.S. drilling estimates in the third quarter of 2006 show that the U.S. drilling pace remains strong, with nearly twice the level of activity recorded during the lows of the early to mid-1990s, API reported.

According to API’s 2006 Quarterly Well Completion Report: Third Quarter, a 21-year high estimated 37,261 oil wells, natural gas wells and dry holes were completed in the first three quarters of 2006. In the third quarter alone, there were an estimated 12,687 completions. This figure is the highest single quarter estimate since the first quarter of 1986 and the twelfth consecutive quarter of increases in estimated U.S. drilling activity.

Strong year-to-year gains in the last decade have resulted in best-ever natural gas drilling and completion numbers. An estimated all-time high of 21,897 natural gas wells were completed in the first nine months of 2006, an estimated 7,480 of those in the third quarter, an all-time quarter high for natural gas drilling activity in the U.S.

API’s third quarter estimates show that drilling is not as skewed toward gas wells as it once was. In the first three quarters of 2006, an estimated 11,545 oil wells were completed, an estimated 3,960 in the third quarter. This third quarter estimate exceeds every quarter of this decade and the 1990s.

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edit: I wonder how many of these "completions" are dry holes....

[pscot]

1. Consider also

that the US was already the most intensively drilled area on the planet.

[louis-t]

3. Also consider that most of the wells are being capped

for future use. You know, like when oil gets to $100 a barrel.

[lapfog_1]

2. We cannot possibly drill our way to energy independence.

I doubt we can even drill enough to match our increasing appetite for oil.