[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 129 (Thursday, July 31, 2008)]
[Senate]
[Page S7952]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. INHOFE:
  S. 3395. A bill to provide for marginal well production preservation 
an enhancement; to the Committee on Finance.
  Mr. INHOFE. Mr. President, a marginal well is defined as one which 
produces 15 barrels or less of oil per day. Yet, according to the 
Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission, IOGCC, these marginal wells 
contribute nearly 18 percent of the oil and 9 percent of the natural 
gas produced in America.
  In fact, marginal wells produced more than 335 million barrels of oil 
in 2006. That's equivalent to more than 60 percent as much as the 
United States imports annually from Saudi Arabia or 67 percent as much 
as the Nation imports annually from Venezuela. In my own State of 
Oklahoma, it is the small independents, basically mom-and-pop 
operations, that produce the majority of oil and natural gas, with 85 
percent of Oklahoma's oil coming from marginal wells.
  In addition to reducing our dependence on foreign oil, a producing 
well provides both State and Federal taxes, pays royalties to land and 
mineral owners, and keeps jobs and dollars on American soil and in 
American pockets. A plugged well provides none of this. On the 
contrary, the IOGCC reported that in 2006, plugged and abandoned 
marginal wells resulted in the loss of $1.77 billion in economic 
output, $369.2 million in earnings reductions, and 8,223 lost jobs.
  These statistics testify to the importance of America's marginal well 
production. With gasoline prices at record highs, Congress must ensure 
that government policies do not discourage, and instead prolong and 
enhance, production from these low volume wells.
  That is why today I am glad to join with my fellow Oklahoman, 
Congressman Dan Boren, to introduce the Marginal Well Production 
Preservation and Enhancement Act. This bill will streamline and clarify 
government regulations, prolong economic feasibility, and enhance 
production volumes from marginal wells. Every onshore oil and gas well 
in the Nation eventually declines into marginal production. The 
Marginal Well Production Preservation and Enhancement Act ensures that 
the Nation's policies recognize and reflect the economic importance of 
marginal well production. It's good for America's small producers, as 
well as America's consumers.
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