US drilling outlays soar to $226.4 billion in 2007

WASHINGTON, DC — US oil and gas drilling expenditures soared to a record $226.4 billion in 2007, more than doubling the previous record of $109.8 billion a year earlier, the American Petroleum Institute said on Jan. 5.

API said the Joint Association Survey of Drilling Costs for 2007, the latest year for which figures are available, showed that records also were set in average costs per well and per foot.


Average costs per US oil well grew 82% to $4 million in 2007 from $2.2 million, while per foot costs climbed 78% year-to-year to an average of $717 from $412, according to API. It said that average costs per domestic natural gas well rose 105% to $3.9 million in 2007 from $1.9 million in 2006 as average costs per foot grew 74% year-to-year to $604 from $348.

Total oil well expenditures jumped 94% to $72.3 billion in 2007 from $37.3 billion in 2006, while gas well expenditures grew by nearly 101% to $119.1 billion from $59.3 billion, API said.

Hazem Arafa, director of API’s statistics department, said strong demand and historically high prices increased competition for labor, services, and equipment, which pushed drilling costs higher along with record-high steel costs.

Oil and Gas Journal