Question-and-Answer Session
Operator
Thank you. (Operator Instructions) Your first question will come from Dave Kessler with Simmons & company.
Dave Kessler - Simmons & Company
Want to follow up on some stuff you talked about last quarter with respect to the wells that have been drilled and put into inventory, so not completed. Where are you guys on that number right now; and how is that different from typical time period? You're always going to have some drilled and an inventory awaiting completion and tie. If you can kind of walk us through that, that would be very helpful.
Rick Buterbaugh
You bet, Dave. At year end we had approximately 120 wells that were drilled and cased in the Fort Worth basin but not yet completed. As we stated this morning, in the first quarter we had drilled an additional 26 wells and cased those wells and completed about 22 of them. So we have definitely slowed down the pace of drilling activity as Glenn mentioned as a result of reducing down to five rigs versus the roughly 12 to 14 rigs that we averaged throughout 2008.
We're working to maintain that level of inventory of drilled but yet to be completed wells at that 120. Now for the entire year, we expect to drill in the Fort Worth basin approximately 100 wells, and complete about 70 of those. So we'll have about 75 wells left to drill for the remainder of 2009, and complete about 50 more of those, which will build that inventory from 120 up to about 150 wells at year end 2009, which is a dramatic reduction from our prior estimates.
Dave Kessler - Simmons & Company
Okay, that's helpful. Then just typically, when we talk about drilling and uncompleted wells, there's always going to be a small inventory of that or an inventory of that. So just to get a clear sense of what is above and beyond what typically a company would have; what is kind of the average would you have had last year prior to starting to stack up these wells?
Rick Buterbaugh
It's probably double the inventory, David, roughly.
Dave Kessler - Simmons & Company
Okay. Maybe I'm not asking it clearly. I would imagine it would be less than the current inventory.
Rick Buterbaugh
It would be about half. It's going to fluctuate based upon what type of pads each rig is drilling on, but because of the multi-well nature of each pad, it's normal to have a significant inventory of drilled but yet to be completed wells.
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