And the impact on the Kansas economy could be significant. Statistics for the first half of the year show that oil production has dropped to slightly more than 2 million barrels per month, said Tim Carr, chief of the Survey's petroleum research section. Based on those figures, geologists predict that production for the entire year of 1998 will be about 29 million barrels. That's a drop of about 10.8 million barrels, or 27 percent, from production levels in 1997 of 39.8 million barrels. However, annual declines have generally been in the range of one or two million barrels per year.
Researchers directly attribute the drop to lower prices.
Carr also estimated that the drop in oil prices and production would have a dramatic impact on employment in the oil patch. He said that the industry employed about 6900 people in 1997, but might lose as many as 3600 employees by the end of 1998. New drilling is all but non-existent, and many producers are slowing or stopping production, hoping for higher prices. Natural gas production in the state is also down in 1998, though not nearly so much as oil. Carr estimated that 1998 production would total 630 billion cubic feet, down about 60 billion cubic feet from 1997's total.