The Texas Railroad Commission (TRC) issued 611 original drillingpermits last month, down sharply from 979 issued in March of 1998.The total number of drilling permits issued for the year to date isalso down sharply. The TRC has issued 1,728 permits so far thisyear, down more than 1,200 from the 2,946 permits issued over thesame period of 1998.

March 1999 permits included 170 for oil, 171 for gas, 252 foroil and gas, 11 for injection, and seven other permits.

Gas production also is down. Texas oil and gas wells produced457,886 MMcf based on preliminary figures for January 1999, downfrom the January 1998 preliminary gas production figure of 469,576MMcf/d

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