Natural gas well drilling on rise, API reports
An American Petroleum Institute (API) report released last week showed a 265 percent increase in estimated exploratory gas well completions as compared to the second quarter of 2017.
API officials said the report demonstrates continued growth and strength of the nation’s
energy production.
“Right now, the U.S. production is supplying substantially all the growth in oil demand throughout the world,” Dean Foreman, API chief economist, said. “For this growth and dominance to continue, our energy infrastructure must keep pace with production, especially in areas like the Permian Basin in Texas and the Bakken in North Dakota, that have experienced major growth in natural gas and oil production.”
Foreman said promoting energy infrastructure is critical to ensuring American consumers, workers, and the environment can continue to benefit from increased energy production that has contributed to the nation’s economy and increased national security.
Officials said the report stated that the country’s natural gas and oil industry year to date experienced a 52 percent increase in drilled footage and a 50 percent increase in well completions, compared with 2017 second quarter. It also stated that the exploratory success rate in the second quarter of 2018 was 64.3 percent, and total estimated gas well completions increased 76 percent as compared to the second quarter of 2017.
