One out of every seven barrels of oil produced in the United States comes from a stripper well – a well whose production has slowed to 10 barrels of oil a day or less. There are over 340,000 of these wells in the United States and together they produced 260 million of barrels of oil in 2008, enough to fuel half the jet planes flying in the United States.

MORE INFO Map - Top Ten Stripper Oil Well States Map - Top Ten Stripper Gas Well States

Stripper gas wells, defined as wells producing less than 60 thousand cubic feet a day, are also significant contributors to the nation’s energy needs. Over 300,000 stripper gas wells produced 2 trillion cubic feet of gas in 2008, enough for about 25 million homes. Stripper wells are more common in older oil and gas producing regions, most notably in Appalachia, Texas and Oklahoma.

Many of these wells are marginally economic and at risk of being plugged, leaving significant quantities of oil remaining behind. In fact, several thousand stripper wells are plugged each year. Once a well becomes uneconomic and is plugged, any remaining oil (sometimes as much as two-thirds of the original oil) is unlikely to ever be recovered. This is because of the high cost of re-drilling the well or replacement well and installing pumping, storage and transportation facilities. Therefore, keeping stripper wells in production helps maintain a strong domestic energy supply. The Department of Energy Stripper Well Revitalization effort is committed to developing technologies to improve the performance of marginally economic wells through the Stripper Well Consortium.

MORE INFO Stripper Well Consortium website Stripper Well Consortium Aids America's Small Producers, E&P Focus Newsletter, Spring 2010

The Stripper Well Consortium, an industry-driven program started in 2000 and managed by the Pennsylvania State University, is co-funded by the Department of Energy and the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority. The Stripper Well Consortium has 97 members including companies/organizations from 23 states, the District of Columbia and Canada. An Executive Council selects research projects proposed by members that will lead to improving oil and natural gas production from stripper wells. The process of having industry develop, review and select projects for funding ensures that the Consortium conducts research that is relevant and timely to the oil and natural gas industry. The Consortium has committed over $10.5 million through September 2011 for over 100 projects co-funded by industry, including 11 projects selected for the October 2010 through September 2011 funding cycle.

Stripper wells produce large quantities of water in addition to the oil and natural gas. Producers not only have the added cost of pumping the water to the surface and disposing of it but when water fills the wellbore it impedes the flow of oil or gas, reducing production rates. Therefore a major focus of the Stripper Well Consortium has been on the development of technologies to more efficiently clear water from wellbores. One successful project is the Gas Operated Automatic lift (GOAL) PetroPump developed by Brandywine Energy and Development Company. The device uses the pressure of gas moving into the bottom of the wellbore to move fluid out of the well. The inexpensive, easy to operate device is more efficient than alternatives and has been shown to boost gas production as much as 300 percent.

The DOE also conducts other activities that help stripper wells. The Rocky Mountain Oilfield Test Center (RMOTC), operated by DOE at the Teapot Dome Field, located near Casper, Wyoming, provides facilities to test and validate new technologies in an operating stripper oilfield.

The Petroleum Technology Transfer Council, with support from the DOE, provides workshops and information on technologies and best practices for oil and gas producers, many of whom operate stripper wells.