API: US oil, gas well completions head in separate directions

US oil well completions grew 13% year-to-year in the second quarter to 7,195, while gas well completions fell 24% to 2,472, the American Petroleum Institute said in its latest quarterly well completion report.

US oil drilling increased in large part on private and state lands, according to Hazem Arafa, director of API’s statistics department. “Additional access to our own vast energy resources and streamlined federal permitting would allow for more opportunities to produce US energy while creating more American jobs and generating more revenue for our government,” he suggested.

Exploratory well completions climbed 26% from 2011’s second quarter to 800 wells, API said. Total footage drilled rose 3% year-to-year to 83,270,000 ft, the report said.

Contact Nick Snow at [email protected].