Heard it put very simply on a local radio talk show that a drilling rig in west Texas is equal to a two million dollar construction project every two weeks. West Texas has over four hundred rigs running in the Permian Basin, each averaging a new well every two weeks. 26 new wells per year per rig is a lot of money, lots of damn good paying jobs, lots and lots of tax money, houses, new cars, clothing and medical care.
This country is the dumbest on the planet for not drilling everywhere there is a potential for a producing well. Just down right ignorant.
That sounded really fast to me so I did a little checking.
http://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/pet_crd_wellend_s1_a.htm
45,529 wells drilled last year.
We averaged just over 1,875 active rigs per day last year.
Dang, the whole country include a few big offshore rigs averaged over 24 wells a year per rig. I also read this week about rigs in the Bakken averaging a million dollars a week in operating expense, per rig.