New Mexico oil production gushes to all-time record (#3 in nation)

The Albuquerque Journal ^ | March 12, 2018 | Kevin Robinson-Avila

[CedarDave]

New Mexico oil production is booming at levels never before seen in state history, pushing output last year to an all-time record of 171 million barrels, according to the latest statistics from the state Oil Conservation Division.

That’s more than double the 85 million barrels the state produced in 2011, when modern drilling technology began pumping new life into the aging Permian Basin in southeastern New Mexico and West Texas. Output last year climbed 17 percent over 2016, when the state produced 146 million barrels.

The boom reflects massive investments in the New Mexico side of Permian, where huge companies like ExxonMobil are sinking billions of dollars into new drilling and exploration, said New Mexico Oil and Gas Association Executive Director Ryan Flynn.

Many things are fueling today’s gushers. Foremost are hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling, which have opened up oil deposits trapped in the basin’s hard shale-rock formations, combined with particularly lucrative pools of hydrocarbons crammed into strategic locations in southeast New Mexico.

That includes the Delaware Basin, an oval-shaped rock formation within the Permian that protrudes from southwest Texas northward into Lea and Eddy counties. That area has become one of the country’s most prolific oil and gas zones, producing some of the highest returns for oil firms operating in the United States.

That’s made New Mexico the third-largest oil-producing state in the nation today, surpassed only by Texas and North Dakota. It’s also turned the Permian into one of the world’s premium growth basins, rivaling traditional producers in the Middle East and elsewhere.

[CedarDave]

As New Mexico is a very poor state with very little major industry except oil and gas, the industry supplies fully one-third of all state tax income. And while this is a fact the legislators know, the enviro-nazis in Santa Fe are always trying to shut them down believing that all energy needs can be supplied by slice-and-dice windmills and bird-cooking solar panels/mirrors followed by skies filled with rainbows and unicorns. The latest area off-limits is an area in NW NM near Chaco Canyon National Historic Park. Due to protests, the BLM has canceled scheduled leasing of parcels for drilling.

[CedarDave]

NM list PING!

I may not PING for all New Mexico articles. To see New Mexico articles by topic click here: New Mexico Topics

To see NM articles by keyword, click here: New Mexico Keywords

To see the NM Message Page, click here: New Mexico Messages

(The NM list is available on my FR homepage for FR member use; its use in the News Forum should not be for trivial or inconsequential posts. Let me know if you wish to be added or removed from the list.)
(For ABQ Journal articles requiring a subscription, scroll down to the bottom of the page to view the article for free after answering a question or watching a short video commercial.)

[samtheman]

OMG! Global Warming! OMG!

[NohSpinZone]

Saul Goodman approves.

[Army Air Corps]

Ping.

[ml/nj]

an all-time record of 171 million barrels

I was curious how this compares to Niagara Falls so I Googled and calculated.

Average annual flow rate at the Horseshoe Falls is 85,000 cubic feet per second which is equivalent to 41.6 million barrels per hour.

ML/NJ

[Big Red Badger]

Chaco Canyon....

Cool place !!!

[Big Red Badger]

A “Criminal” Lawyer!

[DIRTYSECRET]

Why do you think they call it NEW Mexico?

[Parley Baer]

You would not see this under a dimoKKKRAT administration.

[laplata]

Thanks for the good news ping.

[Bender2]

Re: A “Criminal” Lawyer!

Is there... another kind?

[Tammy8]

That is a fact. Our legislature is the best at cutting off their nose to spite their face. They are none too friendly to agriculture, or most businesses and that doesn’t make sense either.

[Lean-Right]

New Mexico suffers the same ills as
California. The major metropolitan
areas controlled by left wing lunatics,
where the smaller towns mostly in the
southern half are pretty strong
conservative. Lots of ranchers with
guns. Below I-40 is a lot of wide
open territory.

[Jane Long]

Most excellent news!!

[CedarDave]

One story in an oil publication that could account for all the drilling on the New Mexico side of the border is that mineral leases in NM are about half the cost of those in Texas.

It's a zoo down there just west of Jal. I was there on a job about two months ago and there are drilling rigs everywhere. Sort of like those old pictures of drill rigs in Texas but with modern equipment. Infrastructure is minimal at best as the pavement on the main road south from NM 128 ends at "pipeline road." That road is unimproved, one lane and contains deep ruts. It is crowded with all manner of heavy equipment and you must pull to the right in sand when passing. Max speed is about 15 mph so it takes a half hour to travel to the location I was on, bouncing all the way. If you have ever watched "Ice Road Truckers" the road conditions are much like those traveled but of course without the snow but with heavy equipment meets every quarter mile. Because there are not yet buried lines, there are black poly pipe "fast lines" scattered across the landscape that carry crude or salt water.

(image may not show)

[laplata]

That’s really interesting and it’s impressive how they cope with the conditions.

I wonder who was wise enough to keep the cost of the mineral leases lower than Texas.

Thanks for sharing.