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Oil & gas drilling applications in PA hit record number in March
HARRISBURG (4/21/2006) - Oil and gas drilling activity has been at a sustained high level, with record numbers of drilling permits issued each of the past two years due to high natural gas and crude oil prices. However, recent activity peaked even higher.

DEP’s Northwest Regional Office received an all time record of 377 drilling applications in March, surpassing the old record of 333 in November 2005. The March figure is the largest number of applications ever received in any one-month period since the enactment of the Oil and Gas Act of 1985.

DEP's Southwest Regional Office also is seeing record numbers of oil and gas drilling permit applications. In March 2006, SWRO issued a record 382 permits, 60 more than the previous high of 322 permits issued in August of 2005.
The increase in activity is more dramatically illustrated by comparing the first two quarters of 2005 and 2006. In the period between Jan. 1 and March 31 last year, SWRO recieved 734 permit applications. This number jumped by 23 percent in the first quarter of 2006, with the department receiving 901 permit applications during that period.

Current permit applications in 2006 put Pennsylvania on a pace to exceed last years record-breaking Oil and Gas permitting totals. The department issued 6,046 permits in 2005, a 32.4 percent increase over the previous record of 4,567 permits in 2004.

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