Local oilfield production dropped in October, and completions and permits issued trailed totals from earlier this year, but increased year-over-year, according to data from the Railroad Commission of Texas (RRC).
In October, local operators reported 1.12 million barrels of crude oil produced by Scurry County oilfields, a drop of more than 300,000 barrels from the 1.44 million barrels of crude oil produced in September.
Last October, Scurry County oil wells produced 1.29 million barrels of crude oil.
According to figures from the commission, Scurry County operators reported 12.6 million barrels produced during the first 10 months of 2019. During the same period last year, operators reported 13.95 million barrels produced.
The commission reported that from November 2018 to October 2019, total Texas reported production was 1.438 billion barrels of crude oil and 9.6 trillion cubic feet of total gas. Crude oil production reported by the RRC is limited to oil produced from oil leases and does not include condensate, which is reported separately by the RRC.
Crude oil and natural gas production reported to the commission for October 2019 came from 173,371 oil wells and 86,879 gas wells.
In Scurry County, the commission issued 12 new permits in December, 10 fewer than in November. Five permits were issued in December 2018.
In districts 8 and 8A, which includes Scurry and the surrounding counties, 453 permits to drill new wells were issued in December, up 20 from the 433 permits issued in November, but down from the 555 permits issued in October.
The commission issued a total of 803 original drilling permits in December 2019 compared to 811 in December 2018. The December 2019 total included 743 permits to drill new oil or gas wells, 8 to re-enter plugged well bores and 52 for re-completions of existing well bores. The breakdown of well types for those permits is 162 oil, 37 gas, 571 oil or gas, 23 injection, zero service and 10 other permits.
Scurry County operators reported 28 completions in December, compared to 29 completions in November and 48 completions in October. In December 2018 operators reported 25 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, 279 completions were reported in December, down from the 385 completions reported in November and 289 completions reported in October.
In December 2019, commission staff processed 491 oil, 98 gas, 17 injection and three other completions compared to 564 oil, 156 gas, 27 injection and three other completions in December 2018. Total well completions processed for 2019 year-to-date are 9,238, down from 10,986 recorded during the same time period in 2018.
Midland County maintained its position as the top producing county with 12.9 million barrels produced in October, compared to 12.4 million barrels in September. Martin County retained the state’s second spot with 8.9 million barrels produced in October. Reeves County moved into third place, with 8.4 million barrels, while Karnes fell to fourth with 7.4 million barrels.
According to Baker Hughes Inc., the Texas rig count as of Jan. 3 was 403, representing about 51 percent of all active rigs in the United States.
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