VARYING PERCENTS OF WELLS DRILLED WERE U. S. GEOPHYSICAL ACTIVITY REMAINS HIGH (Crews Operating End of November Each Year) GEOPHYSICAL CREWS-588 IN THE FIELD AT END OF NOVEMBER 1956 The number of active geophysical crews remained high in 1956 with 588 in the field at the end of November. Even so, last year's total reflected a 4-year downward trend, interrupted only by a slight increase in 1955. In November 1952, there were 722 geophysical crews in the field-705 in 1953-659 in 1954. Then the 3-crew increase to 662 in 1955. Last year activity dropped 74 crews (11 percent) under 1955-for the sharpest decline in activity since the end of World War II. There was a 1-crew increase (to 22) in core-drilling activity at the end of November, compared with the same period in 1955. This is in contrast to the 4-crew decrease reported in 1955 from November of the previous year when 25 drilling crews were active. Top States show decreases. Of the 9 top exploration States (accounting for 89 percent of all United States geophysical activity), only 3 reported increases in working crews last year. Utah, with considerable activity in the Four Corners area, had a significant jump in activity with 39 crews in the field last November26 more than were working in November of 1955. Other States showing increases were New Mexico with 48 crews in action at the end of November, 10 more than were reported in November 1955; and California with 29 crews, 8 more than the previous year. Big drop in Louisiana.—Scene of the biggest increase in activity in recent years, Louisiana switched trends and dropped off more sharply than any other State in 1956 from a peak of 167 crews at the end of November 1955, to 110 crews in November of last year. In fact, November 1956 marked the lowest period for geophysical activity in Louisiana since 1952. Texas, the Nation's top exploration State, reported the second largest decrease in activity. Thirty-two less crews (17 percent) were active last November (with a total of 193) than were shown during the same period in 1955. Montana reported 39 active crews, 1 less than in November 1955; Mississippi had 30 crews, 2 less; Wyoming, 29 crews, 17 less; and Oklahoma with 28 active crews had 5 less than in 1955. Dip in seismic activity.—Accounting for the bulk of geophysical surveys, seismic activity showed an 11.1 percent dip from the previous year. In November 1956, there were 511 crews in the field-64 fewer than in 1955. There were 567 crews operating in November of 1954. Geophysical and core-drilling crews operating at end of November 1955 and 1956 [Source: Interstate oil compact commission] HISTORY OF OIL RESERVES-RISE TO NEW PEAKS AS VOLUME FOUND The United States is still finding more crude oil and natural-gas liquids than it produces, although its producing rate has increased sharply in recent years. Consequently, the Nation's proved unproduced reserves of hydrocarbon liquids continue to rise to new alltime peaks. At the beginning of 1956 United States proved unproduced crude oil and natural-gas liquid reserves totaled nearly 35.5 billion barrels. This is the latest reserve figure available. Reserve estimates for the end of 1956 will not become available from the American Petroleum Institute reserve committee for another month. It seems likely that new reserves developed in 1956 will again exceed production, further increasing the Nation's proved reserves of petroleum. Drilling during the year was at an alltime peak, and a record number of new producing wells were completed. Consequnetly, the number of producing wells operated rose to a new high level. Wildcatting also was at a high level, and a large number of new producing fields were found in 1956. High discovery rate.-Because of the many uncertain elements involved in the discovery of new oilfields and pools, it is natural that there should be great variation in the quantity of new supply found from year to year. During the past 10 years, the volume of liquid hydrocarbons found annually has varied from a low of 2.7 billion barrels in 1947 to a high of 5.1 billion barrels in 1951. However, United States discovery rates have been pushed to their highest overall rates in history during recent years. The latest 5-year period, 1951–55, has seen the discovery of 18.8 billion barrels of liquid hydrocarbons, the largest volume found in any similar length of time in history. This resulted in the addition of 5.9 billion barrels to known reserves, since production during the period totaled 12.9 billion barrels. Significantly, the preceding 5-year period, 1946-50, was the second largest discovery period in history. A total of 16 billion barrels of new reserves were proved to exist in this period. Although the volume found was 3.5 billion barrels smaller than in the 1951-55 period, the same addition was made to reserves in the 1946-50 period because production was only 10.1 billion barrels, or 2.8 billion fewer barrels than in 1951-55. Reserves at peak.-The 35.5 billion barrels of hydrocarbon liquids that existed at the beginning of 1956 was the largest reserve in the history of the United States. It compared with 32.2 billion barrels at the beginning of 1952 and 24.0 billion barrels at the start of 1947. U. S. PETROLEUM RESERVES CONTINUE TO GROW 1948 1950 1952 1954 1955 RATIO OF U. S. PETROLEUM RESERVES (Total Hydrocarbon Reserves at End of 12.3 13.6 13.0 13.6 14.3 The ratio of United States petroleum reserves to production has actually increased in recent years. At the end of 1955 there were 14.3 barrels of reserves for every barrel produced during that year. Crude reserve lead.-Crude reserves make up the bulk of the United States liquid hydrocarbon reserves. At the beginning of 1956 there were slightly over 30 billion barrels of crude-oil reserves and just less than 5.5 billion barrels of natural-gas liquids. A history of United States crude reserves since 1900 is presented on the following page. The location of United States reserves is discussed in the article that follows. |