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Show Petroleum questions: By llie lii(l( ( M(l( Mi ... I't'troleuiii Axsoriution " of jMojinlain Slules - Q. What is' the largest number of wells ever drilled in one year in the U.S.? A. It was 1956, when 58,160 wells were drilled. Of these, more than 37 percent were non-productive (dry) holes. The years between 1954 and 1959 all had more than 50,000 wells drilled. The numbers then began a long decline into the 40,000 range and then into the 30,000 . range, hitting a low in 1971 of 27,300. The trend has now reversed itself. In 1978, 48,513 new wells were drilled. In 1979, it was up to 51,464. Q. What was the year for peak domestic oil production in the U.S.? A. It was 1970, when production from domestic supplies peaked at 9,637,000 barrels per day. But by that time, domestic consumption had gone to more than 14 million barrels per day, and imports had gone to 23 percent of the total supply. In 1979, domestic production was 8,250,000 barrels per day, against a total demand of 18,420,000 barrels per day. By contrast, 1961 production from domestic supplies was 7,183,000 and imports totaled just 19 peicent of the consumption. Q. What was the highest level of domestic oil reserves in the U.S. and when did that occur? A. The highest level of proved oil reserves (oil in the ground) came in 1970, when reserves totaled just over 39 billion barrels, the year of the Alaska discovery. In spite of stronger drilling since then, domestic reserves at the end of 1978 stood at about 27 billion barrels. This indicates we are using our domestic oil faster than we are finding it. That amount is the lowest reserve figure in 20 years. Q. In what year was the most amount of domestic oil found in the U.S.? A. That figure is credited to 1970. when 9.6 billion barrels of new reserves were added as a result of the North Slope Alaska discovery. The total nationwide na-tionwide for that year was more than 12 billion barrels. It is interesting to note that even' though nearly 10 billion new barrels of oil were added to-the U.Sa reserves in 1970 as a result of the Alaska discovery, domestic oil consumption in the meantime mean-time has caused a net loss of more than 11 billion barrels of reserves. In other words, the net gain of the Alaskan discovery has already been offset by consumption from our total of inventoried inven-toried reserves without being replaced by newly discovered reserves. However, with the renewed drilling activity, and the discovery of large new fields such as those in the Overthrust of Utah and Wyoming, this downward trend in domestic reserves is beginning to reverse itself. |