Despite increased activity and production in part of the Permian Basin, oilfield activity continues at a somewhat sluggish pace in Scurry County, according to figures provided by the Railroad Commission of Texas. Permits for new wells, completions and production have all fallen according to the commission’s most recent updates.
Scurry County oil wells produced 1 million barrels of crude oil in August, a slight decline from July’s 1.18 million barrels. Last August, operators reported 1.2 million barrels of crude oil produced.
Year-to-date, production is tracking about 230,000 barrels behind last year, with 9.54 million barrels of crude oil produced in 2018.
The commission issued seven permits to drill new wells in Scurry County in September, compared to 11 permits in August. The commission issued 16 permits last September.
In districts 8 and 8A, which includes Scurry and the surrounding counties, 524 permits to drill new wells were issued in September, down from the 536 permits issued in August and the 639 permits issued in July.
Statewide the commission issued a total of 974 original drilling permits in September 2018 compared to 903 in September 2017. The September 2018 total included 857 permits to drill new oil or gas wells, 11 to re-enter plugged well bores and 106 for re-completions of existing well bores. The breakdown of well types for those permits is 271 oil, 55 gas, 576 oil or gas, 62 injection, zero service and 10 other permits.
In September, commission staff processed 553 oil, 129 gas, 60 injection and two other completions compared to 318 oil, 101 gas, 40 injection and four other completions in September 2017. Total well completions processed for 2018 year-to-date are 8,041, up from 5,408 recorded during the same time period in 2017.
Scurry County operators reported 20 completions in September, compared to 34 completions in August. In September 2017 operators reported 30 completions. Many of the completions both years were listed as “well record only,” and included temporarily abandoned wells.
In districts 8 and 8A, 295 completions were reported in September, down from 371 completions in August and 443 in June.
Statewide August production reported to the commission was 90.4 million barrels of crude oil and 616,160,091 mcf (thousand cubic feet) of total gas from oil and gas wells. These preliminary figures are based on production volumes reported by operators and will be updated as late and corrected production reports are received. Last year’s reported production for August was 75.2 million barrels of crude oil preliminarily, updated to a current figure of 90.7 million barrels.
The commission reported that from September 2017 to August 2018, total Texas reported production was 1.186 billion barrels of crude oil and 8.2 trillion cubic feet of total gas. Crude oil production reported by the commission is limited to oil produced from oil leases and does not include condensate, which is reported separately by the commission.
Texas preliminary August 2018 crude oil production averaged 2.9 million barrels daily, compared to the 2.4 million barrel daily average of August 2017.
Texas production in August 2018 came from 180,386 oil wells and 89,819 gas wells.
Midland County held the top producing spot in August with production increasing by 1 million barrels to 10.7 million barrels of crude oil. Karnes County operators reported 7 million barrels of crude oil produced, up from July’s 6.9 million barrels.
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