| OCR Text |
Show On and Gas Drilling in First Quarter Essentially iquals!976 Performance I:i .:. first three months of thisyear9.937 wells drilled for oil or gas were completed in the United States. This total compares with 9,975 in the first i:l weeks of 1976. Petroleum Information Corporation, Cor-poration, Denver, in reporting first quarter totals, noted that 4.319 new oil wells, 2,1(53 new ;ts v i lis and 3.475 dry holes were completed during the first quarter. Oil wells were slightly below the 197(5 first quarter total of 4,431. Gas wells showed an increase, up from ,0'i in the first quarter of I97t:. Although the number of wells completed is slightly lower than in 197(5, total footage drilled increased... from 47.34 million in 1976 to 47.86 million feet this year. The average total depth this year increased by 61 feet to 4.806 feet. The number of new field wildcats completed this year was 1,536 down slightly from 1,602 in the first quarterof last vear. However, more discoveries discover-ies were among new field wildcat completions this year.. .267 compared to 253 last year. Consequently, the. percentage of exploratory success suc-cess increased from 16 to 17 percent. Other exploratory wells... those seeking new reserves relatively closer to established fields, or in deeper or shallower formations in existing exist-ing fields... increased from 970 in 1976 to 1,054 in the r comparable period just ended. Development drilling through March, with 7,367 completions, comple-tions, was slightly below the first quarter total of 7,403 last year. Texas, with 3,848 completions, comple-tions, was the leader among the states in wells completed, showing a gain of more than eight percent Oklahoma, with 1,070 completions was second, followed by Kansas, Louisiana and California. Increases were recorded in all these states except California. Petroleum Information reported re-ported sharp drops in first quarter completions in Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, West Virginia and Kentucky. These states showed a combined com-bined deficit of 654 completions comple-tions when compared to last year. Operations were hampered ham-pered by severe winter conditions condi-tions in the area during the first quarter. In the meantime, reported rotary rig activity was higher in other parts of the nation where drilling is consistently deeper and requires longer per well drilling time. This accounts ac-counts for at least a part of the increase in average total depth of completions through March of this year, and for the essentially flat total of completions comple-tions nationwide. Petroleum Information Corporation, Cor-poration, a wholly owned subsidiary of A. C. Nielson Company, Northbrook, Illinois, Illi-nois, offers reporting services, data and data analysis ser-'vices, ser-'vices, maps, and technical exploration and engineering services to the petroleum and related industries in the United States and Canada. |
