[thackney]

four hundred rigs running in the Permian Basin, each averaging a new well every two weeks. 26 new wells per year per rig

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.

http://investor.shareholder.com/common/download/download.cfm?companyid=BHI&fileid=552028&filekey=9E1E3886-220B-479F-91BC-91D750D88111&filename=Rigs_by_State_030912.xls

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.

[biff]

thack, just a thumb nail calculation. Son is drilling engineer for independent and they run straight holes about every ten days and horizontals about every 14 days. That is with no fishing, LC, or bad cement jobs. 350 well program.