HOUSTON, Nov. 14 (Xinhua) -- U.S. crude oil and natural gas production increased in 2017, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said Wednesday.
According to EIA, U.S. oil production grew from 8.7 million barrels per day in 2014 to 9.3 million barrels per day in 2017. During that same period, U.S. natural gas gross withdrawals increased from about 78.7 billion cubic feet (about 2.2 billion cubic meters) per day to 83.4 billion cubic feet (about 2.4 billion cubic meters) per day.
Since 2017, U.S. crude oil and natural gas production has continued to grow, most recently measured at 11.3 million barrels per day and 85.2 billion cubic feet per day in August 2018, respectively.
However, the total number of wells producing crude oil and natural gas in the United States fell to 991,000 in 2017, down from a peak of 1.039 million wells in 2014. EIA said this recent decline in the number of wells reflects advances in technology and drilling techniques.
Among the wells, non-horizontal ones have decreased from 940,000 in 2014 to 864,000 in 2017. And horizontal wells are growing as a share of the total: the 99,000 horizontal wells drilled in 2014 accounted for 10 percent of the total. In 2017, 127,000 horizontal wells accounted for 13 percent of total wells drilled in the United States.
