[stylin19a]

Many high-cost wells, which became productive after the oil crisis of 1978-1980, became unprofitable in 1986 and were shut in.

I wonder if any of these were reopened. If not, can they be ?

[boop]

I remember going on spring break in 1986. Gas was 57.9 cents in South Carolina.

[Dan(9698)]

I wonder if any of these were reopened. If not, can they be?

At that time 2/3 of the US production was from "stripper wells".

Stripper wells produce only a few barrels of oil a day.

It added up though. When the price wen so low they couldn't be kept in production, so they were shut in.

The problem is, once a stripper well is shut in, it cannot be brought back into production. The well has to be re-drilled a short distance away. The cost of re-drilling is too much to ever pay out, so the production is gone forever.

A better policy would have been to have a minimum price paid to stripper wells so they would not have been shut in.

Those involved in the oil patch knew this, but nobody would listen, so it is gone.