01-02_USDrilling-staff_T1.htm (Feb-2001)

A monthly magazine offering industry news, statistics and technical editorial to the oil and gas drilling, exploration and production industry.

U.S. drilling 1859 – 1999
	Oil		Gas		Dry		Service and others¹		Total
Year(s)	Wells	Footage*	Wells	Footage*	Wells	Footage*	Wells	Footage*	Wells	Footage*
1859 – 1870	7,486	N.A.	—	—	3,175	N.A.	—	—	10,661	N.A.
1871 – 1880	20,943	N.A.	—	—	3,618	N.A.	—	—	24,561	N.A.
1881 – 1890	33,621	N.A.	317	N.A.	5,811	N.A.	—	—	39,749	N.A.
1891 – 1900	78,857	N.A.	157	N.A.	19,405	N.A.	—	—	98,419	N.A.
1901 – 1910	136,846	N.A.	5,524	N.A.	34,480	N.A.	—	—	176,850	N.A.
1911 – 1921	165,928	N.A.	20,937	N.A.	44,512	N.A.	—	—	231,377	N.A.
1922 – 1925	80,423	N.A.	10,855	N.A.	28,865	N.A.	—	—	120,143	N.A.
1926 – 1930	73,404	N.A.	13,828	N.A.	36,468	N.A.	8,684	N.A.	132,384	N.A.
1931 – 1935	54,054	N.A.	7,634	N.A.	20,652	N.A.	5,681	N.A.	88,021	N.A.
1936 – 1940	98,502	N.A.	11,545	N.A.	32,872	N.A.	9,544	N.A.	152,463	458,386,862
1941	19,590	N.A.	3,279	N.A.	7,280	N.A.	2,361	N.A.	32,510	99,347,714
1942	10,977	N.A.	2,790	N.A.	5,962	N.A.	2,261	N.A.	21,990	67,903,053
1943	9,887	31,403,856	2,390	6,722,529	6,364	21,196,372	1,708	2,669,100	20,349	61,991,857
1944	13,502	47,013,685	3,078	8,808,681	7,153	25,293,694	2,053	3,262,397	25,786	84,378,457
1945	13,944	51,326,513	3,192	10,567,612	7,346	27,633,205	2,167	3,424,783	26,649	92,982,113
1946	16,087	56,622,477	3,562	12,235,594	8,496	29,021,562	2,085	3,245,180	30,230	101,124,813
1947	17,613	62,567,638	3,720	13,248,959	9,751	33,898,943	2,063	3,100,584	33,147	112,816,124
1948	22,197	78,461,094	3,312	12,500,367	11,939	42,521,976	2,029	3,225,716	39,477	136,709,153
1949	21,415	79,462,544	3,499	12,860,524	12,898	44,408,405	1,150	1,885,468	38,962	138,616,941
1950	23,775	92,445,871	3,480	14,002,468	14,918	51,362,163	1,134	1,951,230	43,307	159,761,732
1951	23,532	95,474,565	3,542	14,508,384	17,497	64,299,301	1,425	2,474,971	45,996	176,757,221
1952	23,371	98,263,046	3,693	16,070,060	18,211	71,943,349	1,234	2,116,240	46,509	188,392,695
1953	25,251	102,055,495	4,232	19,473,259	18,759	74,850,087	1,238	2,102,762	49,480	198,431,603
1954	28,063	113,392,112	4,219	19,886,630	19,137	76,595,700	778	1,421,716	52,197	211,296,158
1955	30,474	122,087,959	4,169	19,588,923	20,564	85,576,146	672	1,276,660	55,879	227,529,688
1956	30,641	120,429,185	4,495	22,592,694	22,254	90,440,348	1,028	1,924,214	58,418	235,386,441
1957	27,519	110,548,436	4,622	24,225,753	20,250	83,383,826	1,392	2,705,561	53,783	220,863,576
1958	24,311	93,548,518	5,029	25,385,401	18,421	74,983,087	1,340	2,590,182	49,101	196,507,188
1959	25,532	97,188,133	4,870	26,538,041	18,669	79,744,166	1,108	2,728,825	50,179	206,199,165
1960	22,258	86,568,388	5,149	28,246,169	18,212	77,360,794	1,212	2,467,966	46,831	194,643,317
1961	21,437	85,625,677	5,486	29,291,780	17,331	74,715,968	1,390	2,817,675	45,644	192,451,100
1962	21,727	88,431,757	5,353	28,949,750	17,078	77,252,512	1,839	3,584,557	45,997	198,218,576
1963	20,135	81,809,432	4,570	24,532,890	16,762	76,306,764	1,659	3,314,248	43,126	185,963,334
1964	19,905	80,463,338	4,694	25,597,346	17,694	81,359,311	1,856	3,547,250	44,149	190,967,245
1965	18,065	73,322,134	4,482	24,930,859	16,226	76,629,066	1,601	3,370,819	40,374	178,252,878
1966	16,216	67,430,165	4,321	25,635,979	15,193	72,353,461	1,153	2,673,531	36,883	168,093,136
1967	15,073	59,800,120	3,602	21,481,984	12,958	63,440,482	840	2,257,531	32,473	146,980,117
1968	13,982	59,330,239	3,329	20,151,701	12,954	68,239,219	674	2,291,260	30,939	150,012,419
1969	13,213	59,980,115	3,656	21,828,810	13,076	70,097,967	870	2,391,478	30,815	154,298,370
1970	13,043	56,830,743	4,031	23,616,865	11,099	58,111,919	1,369	3,406,966	29,542	141,966,493
1971	11,903	49,057,720	3,983	23,419,852	10,382	54,778,380	1,414	3,411,173	27,682	130,667,125
1972	11,437	49,483,964	5,484	30,256,715	11,013	59,055,883	1,486	3,713,052	29,420	142,509,614
1973	10,251	44,759,192	6,975	38,211,608	10,466	56,453,938	970	2,449,638	28,662	141,874,376
1974	13,664	52,070,312	7,168	38,481,537	12,205	63,224,550	1,378	2,873,471	34,415	156,649,870
1975	16,979	66,925,867	8,169	44,480,714	13,736	69,633,412	1,920	3,846,248	40,804	184,886,241
1976	17,697	68,827,696	9,438	49,197,689	13,805	69,264,201	1,674	3,574,970	42,614	190,864,556
1977	18,700	75,191,080	12,119	63,499,875	15,036	77,004,923	1,453	3,878,447	47,308	219,574,325
1978	19,065	76,621,339	14,405	75,589,964	16,591	86,174,945	1,610	4,127,271	51,671	242,513,519
1979	20,689	82,142,574	15,166	79,874,886	16,035	81,667,970	1,472	3,665,320	53,362	247,350,750
1980	32,219	123,453,930	17,185	90,554,744	20,309	97,997,528	2,082	4,943,101	71,795	316,949,303
1981	42,819	169,345,774	19,887	106,396,975	27,246	132,779,054	2,381	5,851,487	92,333	414,373,290
1982	40,182	152,851,601	17,167	99,160,005	25,844	122,108,105	2,233	5,281,402	85,426	379,401,133
1983	38,286	140,912,314	12,727	69,898,233	23,764	103,577,767	2,034	4,775,147	76,811	319,163,461
1984	43,824	166,630,406	14,818	81,222,074	25,130	118,459,103	2,228	5,798,103	86,000	372,109,686
1985	35,882	140,858,269	12,600	69,529,518	20,946	102,215,818	1,680	5,204,095	71,108	317,807,700
1986	18,196	73,521,031	7,815	42,073,772	12,075	59,265,274	723	2,367,486	38,809	177,227,563
1987	15,759	64,395,803	7,603	40,360,972	10,963	53,783,526	870	2,638,528	35,195	161,178,829
1988	13,240	56,934,139	8,227	43,652,835	9,965	51,974,308	948	2,935,733	32,380	155,497,015
1989	10,189	42,862,761	8,973	46,480,038	8,212	41,984,308	672	2,220,889	28,046	133,547,996
1990	12,014	53,696,362	10,242	52,716,377	8,359	43,106,274	834	2,246,372	31,449	151,765,385
1991	11,733	54,259,040	9,020	47,652,347	7,664	39,480,310	1,182	2,936,524	29,599	144,328,221
1992	8,821	44,829,333	7,854	44,083,501	6,394	32,420,449	996	2,329,997	24,065	123,663,280
1993	8,672	47,122,491	9,581	57,919,225	6,615	34,308,901	763	2,836,143	25,631	142,186,760
1994	7,099	40,891,170	9,032	58,291,949	5,318	29,641,504	671	1,840,077	22,120	130,664,700
1995	7,824	40,692,060	7,777	49,986,150	4,933	27,248,400	786	2,265,704	21,320	120,189,314
1996	8,917	41,053,246	9,259	56,526,025	5,329	29,422,393	886	2,401,849	24,391	129,403,513
1997	11,214	53,225,444	11,168	68,415,752	5,767	31,962,808	1,056	2,648,417	29,205	156,252,421
1998	7,759	37,808,800	12,203	68,218,164	4,898	29,108,453	881	2,732,480	24,741	137,867,897
1999	4,624	22,706,944	9,621	54,190,502	3,362	20,334,535	432	1,271,941	18,039	98,503,922


¹Includes stratigraphic and core tests. Total records not available prior to 1943. Source:* Prior to 1970 – Petroleum Information Corp., World Oil, Bureau of Mines, “Petroleum in the United States and Possessions,” by Arnold and Kemnitzer, and other authoritative sources. After 1970 – API. Note: API figures will continue to be revised as wells, previously not counted, are finally reported.

FROM THE ARCHIVE