The Energy Information Administration (EIA) said that US crude oil and natural gas hit new records in 2019 although the numbers of active rigs and drilled wells were at the lower end of the range in the last 45 years. EIA said producers managed to contact more reservoir rock using horizontal drilling, meaning that horizontal well lengths were longer and hence, drilling efficiency improved.
EIA said US crude oil production reached 12.2 million bpd in 2019, while natural gas output was at 111.5 bcfd. Both figures represent new record production. Preliminary data showed that the average active rig count was 943 every month, while the monthly average count of new wells was 1,400. This means that the number of oil and gas wells drilled per active rig was 1.5 wells per month in 2019, declining from a peak of 3.6 wells per rig per month in 1986.
Producers managed to boost output with fewer wells and rigs by increasing the average of horizontal wells’ lateral length to 18,000 feet in 2019, from 10,000 feet in the early 2000s. The US has more horizontal wells than vertical and directional wells combined for the first time in 2015. Last year, 75% of newly drilled wells were horizontal with average wellbores of 18,000 feet compared to directional wells’ 10,000 feet, and vertical wells’ 4,500 feet.
