1883

2800
Wells

$3 000,000

1903

EN

O00 O00 18400

1023

$515,704.000 24.438

§515,704.000 IS EXPENDED ANNUALLY IN OIL WELL
DRILI.ING OPERATIONS

In one year, 1928, the petroleum industry completed in the United States 24,438 wells at
an estimated cost of 515,704,000.
Oil wells today are drilled to an average depth of 8,000 feet. The ordinary well costs the
oil operator conservatively $25,000 to drill. Six years ago drilling for oil as deep as 3,000 feet
was a rarity and was considered an expensive and hazardous adventure,
Today the drill pipe and the bit are penetrating the earth 5,000 feet as a common oeccurrence.
 The cost of drilling these deep wells runs from $50.000 to $125,000 each.
Twenty years ago oil was struck at an average depth of 1,500 feet and the average cost
of drilling a well was $2,500. Forty years ago a well could be drilled for a few hundred dollars,
the cost rarely exceeding $1.000.—0il & Gas Journal