Texas oil, gas production falls; permits up

Oil and gas production declined in Texas during the first nine months of the year despite high prices for the fuels.

Production of crude oil dipped nearly 5 percent, from 263.6 million barrels in the first nine months of 2004 to 250.9 million barrels in the same period this year, according to the Texas Railroad Commission.

Natural gas production fell nearly 4 percent, from 3.8 trillion cubic feet in the first nine months of last year to 3.66 tcf this year.

Production in Texas has been sliding for about three decades. An exception to the decline has been the Barnett Shale, a gas field north and west of Fort Worth. Gas production there rose 19 percent.

More recent figures show an increase in finishing wells and planning to drill new ones.

Permits to drill for oil or gas rose in October to 1,393 compared to 1,178 in the same month of 2004, the commission said. The October permits, however, were below the September figure of 1,428.

Gas well completions nearly doubled in October, to 943 from 454 a year ago, and oil well completions rose to 370 from 292 a year earlier, the commission said.

—The Associated Press