Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy

Air Water Land Energy

Nebraska Energy Statistics

Stripper Oil Wells in Nebraska
2012

The Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission (IOGCC) defines stripper wells as those wells producing 10 barrels of oil or less per day. Stripper oil wells produce marginal oil which is oil produced from wells that operate on the lower edge of profitability.

Nebraska had 1,553 stripper oil wells in 2012 (0.38 percent of the nation's reported 409,593 stripper wells). Shown in the table below, these 1,553 stripper wells produced 1,545,886 barrels of oil or 61.5 percent of Nebraska's oil production. Using 2012's average wellhead oil price in Nebraska of $84.95 per barrel, without the stripper oil wells' production, an additional $131 million would have been spent on crude oil imports.

While each individual well in Nebraska contributed only a small amount of oil (2.70 barrels a day, on average), combined with the rest of the nation, stripper well production was over 268.7 million barrels of oil (or 17.2 percent of the total 1.56 billion barrels of oil produced in the United States) saving $25.4 billion on additional imports to the nation. (The nation's average wellhead oil price in 2012 was $94.52 per barrel.)

Rank

Twenty–eight states produce oil from stripper wells: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wyoming. Within this group, in 2012, Nebraska was ranked 11th highest in average daily production per well, 19th highest in oil production from stripper wells, and 21st highest in the number of stripper oil wells.

Plugged and Abandoned Stripper Wells

Many states have programs that allow a well to temporarily stop production. These idle wells are not included in the abandoned well column of the table below; only wells that have been permanently plugged are included. Also, orphaned wells are not included in the table's abandoned well figures. These are wells that are not producing, have not been plugged, and whose owners are either insolvent or cannot be located.

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Stripper Oil Wells in Nebraska, 1970 – 2012
Year Number of
Stripper Wells		 Production
(Barrels)		 Plugged and
Abandoned
Stripper Wells		 Average Daily
Production
per Well
(Barrels)		 Percent of
Total
Crude Oil
Production
Year Number of
Stripper Wells		 Production
(Barrels)		 Plugged and
Abandoned
Stripper Wells		 Average Daily
Production
per Well
(Barrels)		 Percent of
Total
Crude Oil
Production
2012 1,553 1,545,886 NA 2.70 61.50%
2011 1,516 1,596,257 NA NA NA
2010 1,452 1,407,979 NA NA NA
2009 1,463 1,434,068 NA 2.70 64.05%
2008 1,471 1,644,062 27 3.10 68.69%
2007 1,473 1,634,975 20 3.04 70.01%
2006 1,487 1,579,404 15 2.91 68.29%
2005 1,478 1,598,224 19 2.96 66.22%
2004 1,450 1,654,195 54 3.12 65.98%
2003 1,423 1,651,923 80 3.18 59.96%
2002 1,451 1,717,983 100 3.24 61.82%
2001 1,475 1,765,208 83 3.28 60.42%
2000 1,483 1,831,497 67 3.37 61.97%
1999 1,498 1,828,293 66 3.34 68.70%
1998 1,646 2,113,098 90 3.52 66.54%
1997 1,699 2,366,278 66 3.82 70.91%
1996 1,004 1,948,710 112 5.30 55.00%
1995 1,114 1,899,004 36 4.67 50.06%
1994 1,185 2,147,655 50 4.97 50.92%
1993 1,274 2,214,607 65 4.76 45.49%
1992 1,209 2,023,359 55 4.59 36.96%
1991 1,190 1,871,474 43 4.31 32.09%
1990 1,269 2,011,219 60 4.34 34.15%
1989 1,247 2,110,732 43 4.64 33.87%
1988 1,505 2,446,275 30 4.44 40.92%
1987 1,589 2,687,697 39 4.63 44.13%
1986 1,637 2,617,159 45 4.38 36.87%
1985 1,716 2,947,347 36 4.71 42.45%
1984 1,707 2,974,420 36 4.76 45.97%
1983 1,672 3,417,977 18 5.60 53.52%
1982 1,585 2,878,602 15 4.97 41.89%
1981 1,414 2,510,329 11 4.86 37.63%
1980 1,223 2,236,500 18 5.00 35.84%
1979 1,037 1,865,695 17 4.93 30.74%
1978 987 NA 59 NA NA
1977 919 NA 14 NA NA
1976 812 NA 10 NA NA
1975 638 NA 9 NA NA
1974 577 NA 74 NA NA
1973 526 NA 72 NA NA
1972 417 NA 50 NA NA
1971 484 NA 50 NA NA
1970 437 NA 47 NA NA

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Sources: "marginal wells: fuel for economic growth." Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission, Oklahoma City, OK. Nebraska Energy Office, Lincoln, NE.

Notes: The number of wells is estimated for 1997. NA = no data available.

This table was updated on July 2, 2015.

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