RAM owns interests in approximately 4,000 wells and is the operator of leases upon which approximately 3,000 of these wells are located. The PV-10 Value attributable to RAM's interests in the properties it operates represented over 90% of RAM's PV-10 Value as of December 31, 2008.
RAM's historical growth, which has occurred principally as a result of acquisitions and the subsequent development drilling, has resulted in the firm posting a high degree of drilling success. During the first quarter of 2009, 94% of the wells the company drilled were successful, consistent with the equally high success ratio of 93% attributable to the more than 740 wells drilled during the period 1987 - first first quarter 2009.
In this current period of financial industry uncertainty leading to more restrictive capital markets, we believe that maintaining ample liquidty for capital drilling programs to be a critical component of our strategy. This year's capital budget of $40 to $45 million is expected to be fully funded through operating cash flows.
Development, Exploitation and Exploration Programs
Development and Exploitation Program. Our future production and performance depends to a large extent on the successful development of our existing reserves of oil and natural gas. We have identified multiple development projects on our existing properties (substantially all of which are located in our core areas), and these projects involve both the drilling of development wells and extension wells. We are the operator of leases covering approximately 2,600 of the wells in which we own interest, and as such we are able to control expenses, capital allocation and the timing of development activities on these properties. We also own interests in , and operate, 706 injection wells. During the year ended December 31, 2008, we drilled or participated in the drilling of 84.0 gross (67.0 net) development wells on our oil and gas properties. Capital expenditures in connection with these activities during this period agregated approximately $57.1 million.
Another determinant of future performance is the exploitation of existing wells that can be recompleted or otherwise reworked to extract additional hydrocarbons. We have identified approximately 240 projects involving recompletions in existing wells, all of which involve reserves included in our proved reserves at December 31, 2008.
Exploration Program. Historically, an important component of our strategy to expand our reserves and production has been an active exploration program focused on adding long-lived oil and natural gas reserves from our core areas and other reseource plays. During 2009, assuming the continuation of existing commodity prices for oil and natural gas, we expect to conduct only limited epxloration activities. In our core areas, we own in excess of 200,000 gross (75,000 net) undeveloped leasehold acres (including options), which enhances our competitive exploration position and provides the foundation for future reserve additions.
We have experienced technical staff, including geologists, landmen, engineers and other technical personnel devoted to prospect generation and identification of potential drilling locations. We seek to reduce exploration risk by exploring at moderate depths that are deep enough to discover sizeable oil and natural gas accumulations (generally less than 13, 000 feet). Our established presence in our core areas has provided our staff with substantial expertise. Many of our exploration plays are based upon seismic data comparisons to our existing producing fields. For exploration prospects we generate, we typically will own a greater interest in these projects than our drilling partners, if any, and will operate the wells. As a result, we will be able to influence the areas of exploration and the acquisition of leases, as well as the timing and drilling of each well.
During the year ended December 31, 2008, we drilled or participated in the drilling of 6.0 gross (5.1 net) exploratory wells at a cost of approximately $10.5 million and incurred total capital expenditures of approximately $14.9 million for all exploratoin activities. At December 31, 2008, 2.0 gross (1.0 net) exploratory wells were awaiting completion and zero wells were dry holes. For 2009, we have budgeted $5.0 million for geological and geophysical activities relating to exploration projects and $5.0 million for leasehold acquisition for exploratory drilling.
Principal Properties and Activities
We divide our properties with existing production and reserves into three basic groups. The developing fields consist of core properties that have a greater probability of adding new extensions and discoveries. The mature oil and mature gas fields are those porperties that have a history of stable production rates and in which well performance is a function of field maintenance efficiency. During 2008, we participated in the drilling of 90 gross wells (72.1 net) in these areas and experienced a success rate of 99%. During 2008, RAM produced 2.5 million BOE from our properties, or average daily production of 6,997 BOE. Approximately 30% of total 2008 production was from developing fields while the remaining 70% was attributable to mature oil and mature gas fields. Oil and natural gas liquids accounted for 60% of total production and natural gas production the remaining 40% of total volumes produced in 2008.