The Texas Railroad Commission issued a total of 1,226 original drilling permits in December 2008 compared to 1,760 in December 2007. The December total included 1,068 permits to drill new oil and gas wells, 30 to re-enter existing well bores, and 128 for re-completions. Permits issued in December 2008 included 272 oil, 323 gas, 595 oil and gas, 29 injection, zero service and seven other permits, it reports. NOVEMBER CRUDE OIL PRODUCTION Texas preliminary November 2008 crude oil production averaged 924,529 barrels daily, up from the 853,177 barrels daily average of November 2007. The preliminary Texas crude oil production figure for November 2008 is 27,735,876 barrels, an increase from 25,595,326 barrels reported during November 2007. DECEMBER OIL AND GAS COMPLETIONS In December 2008, operators reported 641 oil, 819 gas, 73 injection and one other completion compared to 570 oil, 565 gas, 26 injection and six other completions during December 2007. Total well completions for 2008 year to date are 17,337 up from 14,247 recorded during the same period in 2007. Operators reported 411 holes plugged and two dry holes in December 2008 compared to 315 holes plugged and zero dry holes in December 2007. NOVEMBER NATURAL GAS PRODUCTION Texas oil and gas wells produced 548,204,520 Mcf (thousand cubic feet) of gas based upon preliminary production figures for November 2008, up from the November 2007 preliminary gas production total of 472,595,496 Mcf. Texas production in November 2008 came from 139,351 oil and 86,196 gas wells. NOVEMBER TEXAS TOP TEN OIL PRODUCING COUNTIES RANKED BY PRELIMINARY PRODUCTION COUNTY - CRUDE OIL (BBLS) 1. GAINES - 2,018,363 2. ANDREWS - 2,000,699 3. YOAKUM - 1,938,856 4. ECTOR - 1,543,798 5. HOCKLEY - 1,443,728 6. SCURRY - 1,254,725 7. UPTON - 1,245,062 8. PECOS - 985,035 9. MIDLAND - 888,456 10. CRANE - 777,082 NOVEMBER TEXAS TOP TEN GAS PRODUCING COUNTIES RANKED BY PRELIMINARY PRODUCTION COUNTY - TOTAL GAS (MCF) 1. TARRANT - 32,021,140 2. JOHNSON - 31,405,495 3. ZAPATA - 22,297,140 4. PANOLA - 22,183,729 5. PECOS - 22,006,033 6. FREESTONE- 20,803,279 7. ROBERTSON - 19,765,336 8. HILDALGO - 17,550,715 9. DENTON - 16,391,270 10. WISE - 15,734,248