The total number of producing oil wells in the US stayed relatively flat in 2010, increasing by just 0.8%, or 4,255 wells, to 530,396 from a 2009 total of 526,114, as reported by state agencies and, in a few cases, estimated by World Oil. Given the 23% drilling increase estimated in 2010, this 2010 number likely reflects a large number of oil wells being shut in at the end of their productive life. The biggest gain in oil wells (3,861 wells) occurred in Texas, with the biggest loss (3,472 wells) in California.
Five states continue to have the largest number of wells: Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, California and Ohio, in that order. Together they account for 70% of US producing oil wells. The top five states’ relative rankings remained the same as in 2009, but New Mexico’s well total (the sixth largest in 2010) decreased by 469 and slipped below those of both Louisiana and Pennsylvania to land in eighth.
| Estimated US wells producing oil at the end of 2010 |
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In Texas, Permian Basin development drilling gained momentum as more oil-directed rigs headed to the resource-rich region in response to resurgent oil prices. Districts 7C and 8, in the Permian, saw the state’s two largest gains in wells—1,201 and 737—in 2010, followed by gains of 694 and 645, respectively, in the northern Districts 9 and 10. Only three districts lost wells: Districts 1, 2 and 4, all located in South Texas, saw a total decrease of 246 wells.
Oklahoma, Kansas and Ohio saw their well counts rise slightly, by 0.5%, 1.9% and 0.1%, respectively. Oil well attrition in Louisiana’s North district and state waters resulted in a slight decrease (0.5%) for that state, despite a 12-well gain in the South district. Besides Texas, four-digit well gains were seen in Colorado (1,137 wells, to 10,870 total), Indiana (2,247 wells, to 5,103 total—a 78.7% jump) and Kansas (1,074 wells, to 57,083 total).
Fourteen states had fewer oil producers at the end of 2010 than they did at the beginning of the year, compared with 12 states with fewer producing wells at the end of 2009. After California, the biggest loss was in Wyoming (1,068 wells), which had also seen a four-digit loss in 2009. New Mexico and Illinois saw losses of 469 and 335 wells, respectively.
Despite the clampdown on drilling in the federal Gulf of Mexico last year, the number of oil wells there increased by 174, or 7.8%, to 2,411 wells.
Based on those states for which we were able to obtain a breakout of artificial lift versus naturally flowing wells, the implied percentage of US wells that are producing oil by artificial lift remained relatively stable at 95.6% last year. That ratio has not seen a change of more than 2 percentage points within the last decade. 
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