Oil prices have been hovering around $40 per barrel in recent weeks, but local oilfield production continued to slow down.
Only one permit to drill was issued in June and completions were down as well, according to information from the Railroad Commission of Texas.
In April, local operators reported 1.15 million barrels of crude oil produced, which is a decrease from March’s 1.2 million barrels. In February local producers reported 1.14 million barrels of crude oil produced and in January 1.21 million barrels.
Last April, Scurry County oil wells produced 1.31 million barrels of crude oil.
Year-to-date, local producers have reported 5.01 million barrels of crude oil compared to 5.24 million barrels during the first four months of 2019.
Statewide in April, operators preliminarily reported producing 104.8 million barrels of crude oil, compared to 107.2 million barrels in March. April’s daily average production was just more than 3.5 million barrels.
Last April, operators preliminarily reported 98.9 million barrels of crude oil produced, which was updated to 126.8 million barrels.
Crude oil and natural gas production as reported to the commission for April 2020 came from 172,505 oil wells and 87,853 gas well.
The commission reported that from May 2019 to April 2020, total Texas reported production was 1.5 billion barrels of crude oil and 10.4 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.
In Scurry County, the commission issued one permit to drill wells in June. Seventeen permits were issued in June 2019.
In Districts 8 and 8A, which includes Scurry and the surrounding counties, 157 permits to drill new wells were issued in June, compared to 126 issued in May.
Statewide, the commission issued a total of 312 original drilling permits in June 2020 compared to 1,001 in June 2019. The June 2020 total includes 262 permits to drill new oil or gas wells, three to re-enter plugged well bores and 21 for re-completions of existing well bores.
The breakdown of well types for original drilling permits in June 2020 is 72 oil, 24 gas, 187 oil or gas, 24 injection and five other permits.
Scurry County operators reported 28 completions in June. In June 2019 operators reported 36 completions. Many of the completions both years were listed as “well record only,” and included temporarily abandoned wells, repairs and wells that have been completed but not activated.
In districts 8 and 8A, 577 completions were reported in June, compared to 439 completions in May.
Statewide in June 2020, Commission staff processed 1,031 oil, 371 gas and 60 injection completions for new drills, re-entries and re-completions, compared to 632 oil, 182 gas and 63 injection completions in June 2019.
Total well completions processed for 2020 year to date for new drills, re-entries and re-completions are 7,930 compared to 5,050 recorded during the same period in 2019.
Many of the state’s top crude producing counties reported decreases in production from February to March.
Midland County was the state’s top producing county with 13.7 million barrels of crude oil produced. In March, operators reported 14.1 million barrels of crude oil and in February, 12.7 million barrels.
Martin County retained the state’s second spot with 8.9 million barrels produced in April, a decrease of 1 million barrels. Reeves jumped into third place with 7.6 million barrels, an increase of 400,000 barrels. Karnes County was fourth with 7.4 million barrels, a decrease of 400,000 barrels. Neighboring Howard County reported 5.9 million barrels of crude produced in April, compared to 6.1 million barrels in March.