Natural gas and oil well completions rose 39% to 6,936 duringthe third quarter compared to 5,000 well completions in the sameperiod a year ago, according to the American Petroleum Institute’s(API) Quarterly Well Completion Report.

Gas well completions alone were up 42% to 3,787 in the thirdquarter compared to 2,666 a year ago, and accounted for 45% oftotal well completions during the period. Oil well completions rose59% to 2,092 from 1,313 a year ago, while dry holes completionsincreased 4% to 1,057 from 1,021 during the third quarter in 1999,the API report said.

Year-to-date (YTD) gas and oil well completions were pegged at18,939, up 42% over the 13,360 wells completed at this time in1999, API noted. Natural gas well completions rose 36% to 9,953 forthe nine-month period compared to the 7,324 wells completed duringthe same period a year ago, and comprised nearly half (47%) oftotal well completions YTD. Oil well completions jumped 77% to5,981 YTD compared to 3,374 a year ago, and dry well completionsincreased 13% to 3,002 from 2,662, the report said.

Total well footage drilled during the third quarter rose 35% to34,314, bringing the total YTD footage to 95,774, up 32% over ayear ago. About 46% of footage drilled YTD was for natural gas,while more than half of the footage drilling during the thirdquarter (19,529) involved gas, according to the API report. Itestimates that gas well footage rose 31% to 52,101 YTD, and 46% to19,529 during the third quarter.

Oil well footage drilled also has increased substantially. TheAPI said it jumped 55% to 24,944 YTD, and 37% to 8,279 in the thirdquarter.

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