The Uintah Basin Small Business Development Center provided a Uintah Basin drilling update on June 1st. “Approved applications for permits to drill (APD) were up significantly in May,” shares the update. “From January through April, Utah had a total of 13 Applications for Permits to Drill. In May, that total jumped to 50 (24 in Uintah County and 26 in Duchesne County). That puts us close to even with last year’s Applications for Permits to Drill at this point. This doesn’t mean there will be 50 wells drilled now. It means that drilling companies are thinking they will be drilling wells within the next 18 months before the permits expire. Drillers never use 100% of the permits they get approved. It’s better to have them and waste them, than want to drill and not have them. But, watching the Applications for Permits to Drill is a good leading indicator for activity because you can’t drill without them.” The graphs can be viewed on the Uintah Basin Small Business Development Center Facebook page.
