Drilling Permits Issued for
Development and Exploratory Wells in
Nebraska

The number of permits for development and exploratory wells includes both crude oil wells and natural gas wells.  An increasingly favorable economic environment, which included high crude oil prices, have driven up the number of drilling permits issued.  Drilling permits issued for exploratory wells increased 16 percent in 2007 from 2006 whereas drilling permits issued for development wells tripled in 2007 from 2006.





Drilling Permits Issued for
Development and Exploratory Wells in Nebraska
1975-2007
(Number of Permits)
Type
  Year		 Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Annual
Total1
Development
  1975 NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA 160
  1976 NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA 144
  1977 NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA 13 19 14 18 237
  1978 9 10 11 23 17 24 11 17 18 20 17 21 168
  1979 0 22 22 27 14 20 17 20 16 18 26 33 255
  1980 21 27 25 30 28 32 23 16 22 32 30 27 311
  1981 27 29 22 56 40 30 44 20 24 24 26 32 374
  1982 23 15 17 7 13 20 22 12 11 12 15 22 191
  1983 16 13 13 22 18 24 9 14 15 18 17 7 185
  1984 13 15 10 22 17 14 17 9 9 8 24 12 170
  1985 23 9 10 12 7 8 8 8 15 19 12 11 142
  1986 9 4 3 4 1 4 2 1 6 4 7 5 50
  1987 5 8 5 6 14 11 9 6 6 9 6 7 92
  1988 0 3 5 9 9 10 5 6 4 6 4 6 67
  1989 1 4 6 3 6 2 0 6 5 4 5 6 47
  1990 4 7 7 5 5 3 6 8 8 7 3 4 67
  1991 16 3 10 11 8 12 4 5 3 7 1 4 84
  1992 4 5 9 3 2 1 4 3 7 8 1 5 52
  1993 2 3 5 5 3 3 5 14 6 16 5 2 69
  1994 2 5 3 0 1 3 4 1 1 1 0 9 30
  1995 3 2 1 0 3 2 5 2 1 3 3 1 28
  1996 1 4 4 5 2 4 4 3 3 2 5 2 39
  1997 5 5 4 4 6 4 1 2 12 10 4 10 67
  1998 1 0 0 0 0 2 2 2 1 2 0 2 15
  1999 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 2 2 2 3 11
  2000 1 3 1 4 2 2 7 1 0 2 2 1 27
  2001 0 6 0 0 2 3 2 0 0 0 3 3 19
  2002 1 0 0 0 3 1 2 1 2 2 2 1 15
  2003 2 0 1 0 3 0 5 4 1 0 1 5 25
  2004 1 0 1 132 1 0 9 6 0 1 6 1 42
  2005 0 3 2 3 5 5 12 8 4 5 5 3 54
  2006 5 2 4 2 3 2 8 2 3 7 1 3 48
  2007 3 10 2 1 5 6 22 43 7 15 21 7 146

Type
  Year		 Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Annual
Total1
Exploratory
  1975 NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA 212
  1976 NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA 202
  1977 NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA 27 32 17 40 267
  1978 26 20 21 29 21 20 24 30 31 22 20 23 275
  1979 35 0 20 25 20 18 36 20 24 38 37 30 320
  1980 45 21 20 19 27 17 14 13 34 41 34 24 309
  1981 27 22 16 23 15 50 27 39 23 34 41 37 354
  1982 26 22 27 18 15 13 13 15 18 20 27 47 261
  1983 15 13 12 20 13 9 19 16 35 19 18 26 216
  1984 13 14 15 10 14 17 13 25 26 31 31 26 235
  1985 9 13 14 9 15 16 22 14 18 9 19 18 176
  1986 22 8 8 3 5 6 2 2 8 7 7 14 92
  1987 6 7 9 6 4 14 12 13 14 13 12 13 123
  1988 10 7 8 6 5 5 7 8 8 7 4 6 81
  1989 4 3 4 3 5 14 3 2 4 6 6 7 61
  1990 3 3 5 3 7 11 7 5 10 8 7 4 73
  1991 0 1 7 8 5 4 3 5 4 6 7 6 56
  1992 1 4 4 2 1 1 5 9 10 4 10 7 58
  1993 3 6 5 2 1 0 12 3 7 7 5 3 54
  1994 2 2 4 1 4 1 2 3 5 4 2 6 36
  1995 0 1 1 2 7 0 0 5 1 4 1 2 24
  1996 1 1 1 0 1 0 1 3 1 1 2 2 14
  1997 6 1 5 2 3 2 0 1 2 4 5 3 34
  1998 0 0 0 1 2 0 3 0 4 1 1 3 15
  1999 0 0 3 0 0 1 0 2 4 6 1 1 18
  2000 5 3 3 1 3 0 0 0 1 1 1 4 21
  2001 1 1 2 3 0 0 0 0 6 1 4 0 15
  2002 2 1 2 3 2 1 2 0 1 1 0 0 15
  2003 3 2 0 0 0 2 0 2 0 3 1 1 18
  2004 0 0 1 0 5 5 5 4 1 5 7 2 35
  2005 1 1 5 4 4 6 3 2 6 3 3 4 43
  2006 0 3 2 0 1 22 15 7 2 20 0 2 76
  2007 1 6 17 4 11 3 13 11 5 9 12 2 88

Sources:  "Nebraska Oil Activity Summary."  Nebraska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, Sidney, NE.  Nebraska Energy Office, Lincoln, NE.

Notes:  NA = Not Available.  Monthly numbers are not available before September, 1977.  Numbers in red have been revised.

1The annual total is compiled after corrections and updates have been made which are not reflected in the monthly reports, so the annual total will not always equal the total of the monthly numbers.

2Kinder Morgan received approval from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for ten (10) permits which will allow drilling ten development wells into their gas storage units to improve deliverability.

The tables were updated on July 1, 2008.  Typically, there are two months between updates.
The graph was updated on July 1, 2008.  Typically, there is one year between updates.

Energy Statistics Home  |  Contact Us  |  Conversion Chart  |  Glossary