As the price of crude oil continues its year-end slide, oilfield activity in and around Scurry County continues at a relatively steady pace, according to information from the Railroad Commission of Texas, although a drop in the number of permits issued for new wells could be an indication of things to come.
Scurry County oil wells produced 1.04 million barrels of crude oil in October, similar to reported production in September and August. Last October, operators reported 1.19 million barrels of crude oil produced.
Year-to-date, production is tracking about 100,000 barrels behind last year, with 12.06 million barrels of crude oil produced in 2018 compared to 12.16 million barrels in 2017.
The commission issued seven permits to drill new wells in Scurry County, four fewer than were issued last month. The commission issued 19 permits last November.
In districts 8 and 8A, which includes Scurry and the surrounding counties, 471 permits to drill new wells were issued in November, 60 fewer permits than were issued in October. In September, the commission issued 524 permits.
The commission issued a total of 933 original drilling permits in November 2018 compared to 1,187 in November 2017. The November 2018 total included 870 permits to drill new oil or gas wells, one to re-enter plugged well bores and 62 for re-completions of existing well bores. The breakdown of well types for those permits is 212 oil, 55 gas, 595 oil or gas, 60 injection, two service and nine other permits.
In November 2018, the commission staff processed 794 oil, 151 gas, 36 injection and one other completion compared to 388 oil, 74 gas, 29 injection and one other completion in November 2017. Total well completions processed for 2018 year-to-date are 10,236, up from 6,291 recorded during the same time period in 2017.
Scurry County operators reported 44 completions in November, down from October’s 61 completions. In November 2017 operators reported 20 completions. Many of the completions 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, 398 completions were reported in November, down from October’s 531 reported completions. In September, operators reported 295 completions.
October production reported to the commission was 89.7 million barrels of crude oil and 601,079,149 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 October, operators reported 75.6 million barrels of crude oil preliminarily, updated to a current figure of 99.7 million barrels.
The commission reported that from November 2017 to October 2018, total Texas reported production was 1.24 billion barrels of crude oil and 8.3 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 October 2018 crude oil production averaged 2.89 million barrels daily, compared to the 2.44 million barrel daily average of October 2017.
Texas production in October 2018 came from 179,119 oil wells and 90,915 gas wells.
Midland County maintained its position as the top producing county with more than 11.5 million barrels of crude oil produced, a jump from September’s 10.1 million barrels. Karnes County operators reported 7.3 million barrels of crude oil produced, up about 200,000 barrels from September.
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