Number of wells producing oil, gas declines

The number of wells producing crude oil and natural gas in the United States declined in 2017, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA).

Oil and gas producing wells dropped from a peak of 1,039,000 in 2014 down to 991,000 in 2017. The decline can be primarily attributed to advances in technology and drilling techniques, EIA stated in its new report, U.S. Oil and Natural Gas Wells by Production Rate.

Nonhorizontal wells, which include vertical wells, have decreased from 940,000 in 2014 to 864,000 in 2017. Horizontal wells are less common, but they are growing as a share of the total. Specifically, there were 99,000 horizontal wells drilled in 2014 – about 10 percent of the total. In 2017, there were 127,000 horizontal wells – which accounted for 13 percent of total wells drilled. Horizontal wells are more expensive to drill than vertical wells but produce greater volumes. About 30 percent of horizontal wells produced at least 100 barrels per day (b/d) of crude oil in 2017 compared to only 1 percent of vertical wells.

However, it should be noted that while there were fewer wells in 2017, U.S. oil production grew from 8.7 million b/d in 2014 to 9.3 million b/d in 2017. Also, U.S. natural gas gross withdrawals increased from about 78.7 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) to 83.4 Bcf/d. Since 2017, crude oil and natural gas production has continued to grow. In August 2018, production measured 11.3 million b/d and 85.2 Bcf/d.