A new report spotlights high oil drilling volumes and an oil drilling boom in New Mexico over the past decade.---
Research group Headwaters Economics released a report this morning ranking counties in six Rocky Mountain states by various metrics related to oil drilling. Eddy County, in southeastern New Mexico, had the third most oil-rig activity in a single year over the past decade compared to any other county in the states studied. The volume of drilling was measured in terms of "rig weeks," or weeks where at least one drilling rig was present in the county for a week. In 2006—Eddy county's biggest year—it logged 2,041 rig weeks. Lea county, which is directly east of Eddy, came in seventh with 1,564 rig weeks.
The study also looked at counties with the biggest boom or bust years—the greatest increases or decreases in drilling activity. Eddy county came in number one in that category—increasing by 1,154 rig weeks from 2002 to 2003. Both counties saw a significant drop in rig weeks from 2008 to 2009, however.
Eddy and Lea counties are rich in oil because they are part of the Permian basin, a region of sedimentary rock put down during the Permian period of geologic history. The Permian period was between 250 and 299 million years ago, and ended with the mass extinction that is still the subject of scientific debate today. An example of a Permian-era animal is the Dimetrodon, the sail-backed pelycosaur—not a dinosaur—that may be familiar to museum-goers and first graders.
Most of the Permian basin is in Texas. According to the Department of Energy, 29 percent of the country's future oil reserves are located there.
