U.S. Energy Information Administration said rapid declines in production from horizontal wells require more drilling to sustain production. The EIA reported, “As U.S. crude oil and natural gas production have increased, so has the volume of production declines from existing wells. To offset the increasing declines, operators today must bring on new wells to sustain or increase production levels.”
The EIA analysis released Nov. 5 added, “Because production from oil and gas wells declines over time as reservoir pressure decreases, new wells are required to maintain the same production level. The increasing number of horizontal wells has contributed to this trend because horizontal wells exhibit higher decline rates than vertical wells.”
Crude oil production in U.S. lower 48 averaged 11 million barrels per day in December 2023. Production from wells that came online in 2023 or earlier fell by 4.3 million b/d to 6.7 million b/d one year later in December 2024. Those declines were offset by the more than 15,000 new wells that were brought online in 2024, including 11,700 horizontal wells. Oil production from those new wells was 4.4 million b/d. Natural gas production from wells that came online in 2023 or earlier fell from 115.4 billion cfd to 88.4 Bcfd, but production from new wells averaged 28 Bcfd to offset those declines.
Operators began to drill more horizontal wells in mid 2000s to recover oil and natural gas more quickly after initial production than from vertical wells. EIA said horizontal wells produced 94 percent of oil and 92 percent of natural gas in U.S. lower 48 in December 2024.