The total number of US producing oil wells increased slightly due in part to the high price environment. At the end of 2007, the well total grew 0.5% to 499,833 wells, up from 497,403 wells in 2006, as reported by state agencies and estimated by World Oil. The US increased by 2,430 net wells led by Kansas, which increased its total producing wells by 6,741, a 16% increase.
Seven states-Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, California, Ohio, Louisiana and New Mexico-have the largest number of producing wells. Together they hold 78.5% of the US producing well count.
Texas continues with the largest well count at 144,660, up 0.2% with a modest gain of 236 wells. District 6E had the largest gain, as East Texas Field operators increased producing wells by almost 1,400. Districts 6, 7C, 8 and 8A had triple-digit net increases. On the downside, District 10 suffered the loss of almost 600 wells, followed closely by District 9.
The second-largest producing well count is in Oklahoma, where its 82,640 wells are up by over 400, 0.5% higher than last year’s well count. California turned around its 2006 well count by almost a thousand wells, increasing its 2007 producer count over 2% to 46,318 wells.
Kansas’ producing well count jumped to almost 49,000 wells. The 16% increase brought many older wells back into production. That high note is offset by large reductions in oil producers in Alaska and Mississippi, where the states lost more than 1,100 and 1,400 wells, respectively. However the greatest losses were in Wyoming, which shut in more than 3,500 producing oil wells.
Estimated US wells producing oil at the end of 2007
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Louisiana held its own this year with a modest 66-well increase to 20,375 wells. The northern part of the state had a net reduction, which was overcome by a near-5% increase in producing wells in the state’s southern region. This is a flip from last year’s activity, when the northern half of the state led the southern half.
New Mexico increased its producer total a modest 0.7% to 20,366 oil wells. In 2006, the state had 20,229 wells online. In North Dakota, the Bakken Shale play has attracted 55-60 rigs to drill horizontal wells. Some of these wells have 20,000-ft extended reaches.
Readers will note the scarcity of information on flowing and artificial lift. Because of the lack of specific information from many state agencies, World Oil was unable to make reasonable estimates of flowing wells vs. those on artificial lift. 
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