Texas oil and gas producers turned in another month of production growth in February, according to preliminary data from the Railroad Commission of Texas (RRC). Both oil and gas production were up from a year ago. March oil well completions were up sharply from a year ago, but gas well completions declined.

Texas preliminary February crude oil production averaged 2.00 million b/d, up from the 1.56 million b/d average of February 2013. The preliminary Texas crude oil production figure for February 2014 is 56.06 million bbl, up from 43.69 million bbl reported during February 2013.

Texas oil and gas wells produced 531.03 Bcf of gas based upon preliminary figures for February, up from the February 2013 preliminary total of 504.38 Bcf. Preliminary total gas production averaged 18.97 Bcf/d. February production came from 159,984 oil wells and 86,461 gas wells.

The commission’s estimated final production for February is 65.59 million bbl of crude oil and 490.25 Bcf of gas well gas. The commission derived final production by multiplying preliminary February totals of 56.06 million bbl of crude oil and 415.92 Bcf of gas well gas by an adjustment factor of 1.1701 for crude oil and 1.1787 for gas. The totals do not include casinghead gas or condensate.

The top-10 crude oil-producing counties were Karnes, La Salle, Gonzales, De Witt, McMullen, Andrews, Upton, Ector, Martin and Midland. The top-10 gas-producing counties were Tarrant, Webb, Johnson, Panola, Wise, De Witt, Denton, Dimmit, Karnes and Wheeler.

In the last 12 months, total Texas reported production was 744 million bbl of oil and 7.8 Tcf of natural gas.

Earlier this month, the economist who compiles the Texas Petro Index for the Texas Alliance of Energy Producers said the state’s producers recovered about 2.75 million b/d of crude oil during February, which is “the most since 1980” (see Shale Daily, April 15).

In March operators reported 2,965 oil, 272 gas, 131 injection and 13 other completions compared to 1,391 oil, 574 gas, 61 injection and four other completions in March 2013. Total well completions for 2014 year to date are 10,130, up from 4,955 recorded during the same period in 2013.

The commission issued 1,894 original drilling permits in March compared to 2,053 in March 2013. The March total included 1,691 permits to drill new oil and gas wells, 52 to re-enter existing well bores, and 151 for re-completions. Permits issued included 521 oil, 137 gas, 1,150 oil and gas, 71 injection, one service and 14 other.

The Texas average rig count as of April 17 was 882, representing about 50% of all active land rigs in the United States.