Pace

Natural gas continued to drive the strong drilling pace in the United States during the first quarter of the year, according to a report issued by the American Petroleum Institute (API). Of the 13,497 wells and dry holes completed in the first quarter, natural gas wells accounted for more than half — 7,459 wells, the API said. While natural gas activity was down 1% from year-ago levels, it was nearly double the drilling activity of a decade ago, the producer group reported. An estimated 4,577 oil wells were completed during the first quarter, up 12% from last year’s comparable period. It was the highest first-quarter estimate of oil activity since 1986, the API said. Total oil well, natural gas well and dry hole activity rose 4% to 13,497 wells during the first three months of the year, it noted. Total estimated exploratory well completions, accounting for nearly 15% of total estimated well completions, rose 37% in the first quarter from the comparable period in 2007, according to the API. Estimated exploratory natural gas wells and dry holes increased 60% and 20%, respectively, during the quarter from year-ago levels. API also reported that total estimated drilling footage rose 1% to 79,804,000 during the first quarter from the same period in 2007. This was the highest estimated first-quarter footage ever, it said.

Natural gas continued to drive the strong drilling pace in the United States during the first quarter of the year, according to a report by the American Petroleum Institute (API).

Still languishing in a legally imposed “silent” period that runs until Dec. 10, Puget Sound Energy (PSE) nevertheless is keeping a busy pace preparing to make a deluge of key regulatory filings by the end of the year on its proposed $7.4 billion merger with a consortium of Australian and Canadian private equity interests bidding to take the Bellevue, WA-based utility private.

Upstream investment worldwide hit a world-class pace in 2006, but the return on reserves volumes was paltry. This year, investor enthusiasm has declined, but capital expenditures (capex) by exploration and production (E&P) companies — at least in the United States — show signs of support for organic growth in production volumes, two groups of energy analysts said in their reviews of the sector.

Approved applications for permits-to-drill (APD) in Colorado are up 4% from the same time a year ago and are on pace to break all previous records, the Colorado Oil & Gas Conservation Commission (COGCC) said in a report issued Monday.

Domestic drilling activity in the second quarter was twice the level of second quarter drilling recorded during the 1990s, with natural gas leading the way at a record-setting pace, the American Petroleum Institute (API) reported in its well completion report for the period. Second-quarter activity, which was at a 21-year high, saw a total of 13,009 oil wells, natural gas wells and dry holes completed, up 3% from the comparable period in 2006. It was preceded by strong drilling activity in the first quarter during which 11,771 wells and dry holes were completed. Natural gas continues to be the primary target for domestic drilling, the oil and gas producer group said. It estimated that 7,209 natural gas wells were completed in the second quarter, setting a record for gas activity for the period. It comes on the heels of record gas activity in the first quarter during which 7,085 gas wells were completed. Total estimated exploratory completions, accounting for almost 11% of total estimated completions, increased 39% in the second quarter compared to the same period a year ago, the API said. It noted that total development completions remained unchanged.

Domestic drilling activity in the second quarter was twice the level of second quarter drilling recorded during the 1990s, with natural gas leading the way at a record-setting pace, the American Petroleum Institute (API) reported in its well completion report for the period.

Finishing the week with a sub-$7 handle, April natural gas futures traded a slim 9.5-cent range Friday before finishing the week at $6.924, down 3.5 cents on the day and 15.9 cents lower than the previous Friday’s close.

North American natural gas over the next 20 years will expand in use, price and power generation, and in Nevada the pace will be even brisker, according to a consultant’s study done last year and made public this month by Sierra Pacific Resources’ two Nevada private-sector utilities. The Nevada Public Utilities Commission (PUC) has had a confidential version of the report since June.