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By Alfred H. Bell

Drilling activity increased in Illinois in 1935. There were 34 com-pletions as compared with 26 in 1934 and 18 wells were drilling at the end of 1935. Some large blocks of acreage were leased in Marion and Clay counties near the central part of the Illinois structural basin. Production of oil in the state totaled 4,305,000 bbl., a decrease of 4 per cent from that of 1934 There was some curtailment of production in the early part of 1935 but none after April 30 as shown in the following table. Percentage Pro-duced of Potential ProductioN (USING September 1934 Period as BaSis) Jan. .l-Feb. 20............................................ 79 Feb. 21-Feb. 25............................................ 85 Feb. 26-Feb. 38............................................ 79 Mar. 1-Mar. 11............................................ 85 Mar. 12-Mar. 31............................................ 100 Apr. 1-Apr. 9.......................................... 80 Apr. 10-Apr. 30............................................ 86 May 1-Dec. 31........................................... 100 This is equivalent to an average curtailment throughout the year of 5 per cent. The price of Illinois crude oil at the wells remained constant during 1935 at $1.13 per barrel. A small amount of oil was sold at a 1ower price, notably from the Dupo field, but to arrive at a value for the state's production there would be little error in assuming an average price of 81.13, giving a total value of $4,864,465. The following table shows production in Illinois by moths in 1935, according to the U.S. Bureau of Mines. Jan............. 332,000 May.......... 382,000 Sept ,............. 370,000 Feb............. 295,000 June. ........... 858,000 Oct.............. 391,000 Mar............ 370,000 July............ 377,000 Nov............. 369,000 April............ 338,000 Aug............. 379,000 Dec............ 344,000

Jan 1, 1936

By J. P. Kerr, W. H. Cordell

Conditions in the oil and gas industry in Indiana were about the same in 1935 as in 1934. This is especially true of the old Trenton area and the Harrison County area where production was steady and almost no exploration and development took place. The past year has seen an increase in drilling activity and a decrease in oil and gas output in southwestern Indiana. In the state, 224 wells were completed in 1935, of which 48 were oil wells, 61 gas wells, and 115 dry holes. A few of these were old gas wells deepened to oil horizons. Twenty-six wells started during 1935 were not completed by Dec. 31. Approximately one-half the wells drilled were within proven areas. A relatively large number of wildcats, especially in Daviess, Pike and Gibson Counties, were in search of new gas supplies to supplant the diminishing resources in those counties. The decreased production of gas was due largely to the fact that existing supplies declined more rapidly than new fields could be brought on. The Alford field, in Pike County, which produced the bulk of the supply in 1934, was called on to do likewise in 1935, but was unable to respond sufficiently to keep up the yearly production for southwestern Indiana. During the last half of the year, the Oaktown field, Knox County, was connected with one of the principal pipe lines of the state, which helped to keep gas production above an unusual low. The decline in oil production was due almost entirely to proration during the first eight months of the year. The proration affected Daviess, Pike, Gibson, Sullivan and Vigo counties, which produce about three-fourths of the total for the state. After proration was lifted, the wells never quite reached the conditions existing before proration. The average daily production per well in Indiana is less than two barrels. The outstanding development in Indiana in 1935 was the drilling in the Oaktown field immediately before and after the laying of the 6-in. pipe line to the field. Almost without exception the wells came in with an open flow of two to four million cubic feet. At the end of the year, 26 wells were connected to the pipe line. Development of this field will

Jan 1, 1936

By Howard S. Bryant

Kansas maintained its fourth position on the list of all oil-producing states, for the ninth consecutive year. Total crude-oil production during 1935, as reported by the Oil & Gas Journal, was 53,364,446 bbl. on 97 per rent tank table calculations. This represented an increase of 17 per cent over the production in 1934, which had been the all-time peak of production in Kansas up to that time. Many of the 51 new discoveries of the year, listed in Table 2, did not have a pipe line outlet until about January, 1936; therefore did not contribute to the 1935 production of the state. The potential of all wells in Kansas at the end of the year was 998,-000 bbl. per day, and the daily allowable was 143,000 bbl. per day, showing proration to the extent of 14 per cent of capacity, under the rules of the State Corporation Commission. Several important new pipe lines were built into western Kansas by extending older lines from east to northwest, providing additional outlets for new crude-oil production, and increasing the service facilities from the older oil fields. The crude-oil price level remained unchanged throughout 1935 as it did in 1934, the price of Kansas 36" gravity crude being quoted at $1 per barrel. However, on Jan. 9, 1936, the price of this gravity oil was raised to $1.10 per barrel. Following the trend of the past several years, drilling activity was largely in western Kansas, and showed a still farther westward push from last year. A relatively high percentage of successful wildcat wells at a relatively shallow drilling depth, combined with the expiration of leased acreage assembled before the depression, caused the rapid exploration and development campaign, begun in 1934, to continue. This has caused the opening of more new fields in 1935 than during any previous year in the history of oil production in Kansas. A summary of the results of drilling in western Kansas is given in Table 2. Eastern Kansas had considerable drilling, showed six new fields or extensions of oil fields, but in the limited space of this paper such developments cannot be described.

Jan 1, 1936

By N. Shiarella, Coleman D. Hunter, I. B. Browning

The price of crude oil in Kentucky did not change very much during 1935 until the latter part of the year, but more stabilized conditions and an increase in consumption of natural gas made the year a more profitable one than the year 1934. The production of crude oil in 1935 amounted to 5,175,054 bbl. as compared to 4,814,904 bbl. in 1934. This increase was due to two developments: (1) the application of new recovery methods to old fields, which, although in operation in the state for several years, had never before reached a point where the production obtained, while highly satisfactory where applied, was sufficient to influence the totals in the production figures; (2) the development of the Fordsville area in Ohio County, where shallow depths enabled the operators to complete the development of a large number of wells with a good flush production probably accounted for most of the increase. A map showing the location of oil and gas pools in Kentucky was published last year.' The fields of eastern Kentucky, producing from the Weir sand of the Waverly group of the Lower Mississippian series, in Johnson, Magoffin, Lawrence and Elliott counties, produced 826,001 bbl. of oil in 1935 as compared with 902,247 bbl. in the previous year. No new wells were drilled in this area during the year, except those for use as intake wells in repressuring. What has been done in the few small areas within these fields in the way of repressuring has produced results sufficient to a great extent to offset the natural decline of all the field. It is probable the drilling of new wells and construction of new plants will be such as to cause these fields to produce more in 1936 than was produced in the past year. This is based on the fact that the sand is highly favorable for repressuring and the results obtained show from 300 to 500 per cent increase in production. From the "Corniferous" pools, where production is from the Cornifer-ous limestone of Devonian age, in Lee, Powell, Estill, Wolfe, Morgan and

Jan 1, 1936

By Benjamin C. Craft

Oil and gas development in Louisiana during 1935 brought this state at the close of the year up to fourth place in the nation as a producing area. A review of development in North Louisiana centers around Rodessa, the most important reserve discovered in this area in many years. While the producing limits have not been defined, this discovery is one of the major developments of the year. New gas fields were discovered in Lincoln, De Soto and Bossier parishes. The Lincoln Parish discovery, completed flowing a highly saturated gas from the Glen Rose, further indicates the importance of deep-seated prospects in the interior salt-dome area. Minor extensions were made at Sligo and Pine Island. During the year, 126 oil wells and 103 gas wells were completed in North Louisiana as compared with 144 oil wells and 68 gas wells during 1934. The North Louisiana oil production was 9,617,405 bbl. as com-pared with 9,274,050 bbl. during 1934, an increase of 343,355 bbl., while the gas production increased 18 billion cu. ft. in 1935 over its 1934 figure. The Louisiana Department of Conservation gage of Nov. 1, 1935, shows an open-flow capacity of 4,563,725,000 cu. ft. per day from 941 wells in the Monroe field and 682,770,000 cu. ft. from 159 wells in the Rich-land field. A great deal of leasing continues in North Louisiana as a result of the Lincoln Parish discovery and development in the Rodessa field, especially in Bossier, De Soto, Winn, Lincoln, Bienville, Webster, Ouachita and Richland parishes. South Louisiana's position as an area of important reserves was further proved during the past year. Increased drilling resulted in the discovery of seven new fields: Lafitte, Garden Island Bay, Tepetate, Bunkie, St. Martinsville, Jeanerette and Big Lake. New sands or producing horizons proved productive in 15 of the proven fields. The total oil production for South Louisiana during 1935 was 40,731,-056 bbl. as compared with 23,255,437 bbl. during 1934. There were 222 oil and gas wells completed in South Louisiana during 1935 as compared with 214 oil wells during the previous period. Drilling during

Jan 1, 1936

By Theron Wasson

The state of Michigan showed considerable activity during 1935. The center of greatest interest was the Crystal field, which was unknown until March, 1935, and is an illustration of the effect of the unknown and unexpected on Michigan oil development. The fields of the state (Fig. 1) produced a total of 15,770,000 bbl. of oil in 1935, or about 5 million more than in 1934. In order to keep up this production 307 new oil wells were drilled, of which 88 were in the Crystal area, which produced 3,600,000 bbl. This field had a rapid development and reached its peak in October. Since that time increasing water encroachment has caused a rapid decline. The pay horizon at the top of the Monroe dolomite is only a few feet thick. Big producers were offset by dry holes or small wells. The discovery well, which was in section 11, Crystal township, Montcalm County, was drilled March 28, 1935. Its initial production was 5000 bbl. per day, and up to Dec. 31, 1935, had produced 350,000 bbl. of oil—dose to one-tenth of the total production of the field to that date. The Beaverton field, which was discovered at the close of 1934, did not develop rapidly. Four small producers were finished in the Dundee lime during the year. West Branch was active and at the end of the year had 97 producers, 72 of which were drilled during 1935. Most of the wells produce from the Dundee lime; a few are finished in the Traverse. The Birch Run field deserves special mention, for it is the one area where consistent production continues to be found in the Berea sand at about 1500 ft. Wells are small, 20 now producing a total of about 300 bbl. per day of oil of fine quality. The old Central Michigan producing area, extending from Nit,. Pleasant through Yost to Porter, continued to be the principal producing area of the state and accounted for 10,370,000 bbl. from 660 producing wells. Ninety-three new wells were drilled in this territory. The Porter field, at the southeast end of this producing trend, was outstanding from the standpoint of production. The old Leaton field of Isabella County added several new producers. Its production was greater than in 1934.

Jan 1, 1936

By Henry N. Toler

Development in the Jackson gas field, Hinds and Rankin counties, for 1935 continued at a slow pace, there being only nine wells drilled on the structure, of which five resulted in gas producers and four in dry holes. There were no wells drilled deep enough during 1935 to test any of the horizons below the producing Selma chalk. There are 113 producing gas wells in the Jackson gas field, with three wells on the southeast edge of the field making some oil with a large quantity of salt water; this oil comes from the same horizon as the gas. The combined open flow of the 113 gas wells is about 4,100,000,000 cu. ft. The proven area of the field is approximately 8000 acres. The production of 10,291,000,000 cu. ft. for 1935 represents the largest yearly pull from the field by almost a billion cubic feet. The total production from the field to date is 45,104,000,-000 cu. ft. It is interesting to note that the rock pressure has dropped from 1010 lb. per sq. in. initial to 943 Ib. at the end of 1935, a decline of only 67 lb. in 6 years. There is a difference of opinion as to the age of the deepest formation tested on the Jackson structure; some people holding that it is Tuscaloosa, others, Trinity, and still others that it is Paleozoic, probably Pottsville. The production of the Amory gas field, Monroe County, continued to decline and the capacity was far under the demand. Originally there were four producing wells in the field with a combined open-flow capacity of approximately 15,000,000 cu. ft. and a rock pressure of 680 lb. per sq. in. At the end of 1935 only two wells were producing with a combined open-flow of less than 1 million cu. ft. and the rock pressure down to 100 lb. or less. No attempt has been made to drill new wells in the immediate field but three wells are being drilled in the county in an effort to secure new supplies of gas. The wildcat operations for 1935, with only 11 wells drilled, were the lowest since 1932, just about one-half the number drilled during 1934. None of the wildcat wells drilled in 1935 resulted in producers and, so far as the writer is aware, did not uncover any large structures. The 11 wells drilled were abandoned or junked at comparatively shallow depths, except the well drilled in George County to 6928 ft. by the United Gas

Jan 1, 1936

By Frank C. Green

Drilling for oil and gas in Missouri in 1935 was mostly confined to proven areas, but was marked by the completion of one of the largest oil wells, 53 bbl., and one of the largest gas wells, 2,000,000 cu. ft., drilled in recent years. A new oil pool, discovered in southern Cass County late in 1934, was further developed; a new pool in southern Platte County is possibly indicated by the completion of a single small well, which flowed naturally; and a deeper sand was developed in the Marota gas pool in Jackson County. Completions dropped to a lower level than in any recent year. A total of 73 wells, which included the deepening of 8 old wells, was drilled. In Bates County, there was one gas well with an open flow of 100,000 cu. ft., and one dry hole. Cass County had six oil wells with about 100 bbl. initial production; one gas well with an open flow of 500,000 cu. ft., and three dry holes. In Jackson County there were seven oil wells with 25 bbl. initial production; 24 gas wells with 7,358,968 cu. ft. open flow, and 27 dry holes. Platte County had one oil well, one small gas well and one dry hole. The oil well flowed naturally about 4 or 5 bbl. per day. It is rather difficult to obtain production figures on either oil or gas leases, but in cases where the figures have been given to the writer in confidence, they disclose conditions comparable with many other regions. One oil lease of 32 acres has produced 125,000 bbl. in four years, or nearly 4000 bbl. per acre. Another lease has made 50,000 bbl., or about 3000 bbl. per acre. It is probable that the total daily production at the end of 1935 was close to 200 hill. per day. A gas pool covering less than one square mile has made 110,111,000 cu. ft. in about 18 months. In this period, the open-flow capacity has been reduced from about 10,500,000 cu. ft. per day to about 3,500,000.

Jan 1, 1936

By Eugene S. Perry

The only outstanding development in Montana oil or gas fields during 1935 was the extension of the Cut Bank oil and gas field 7 miles southward. This field is now about 20 miles long and 3 to 8 miles wide, with 218 producing oil wells and 39 producing gas wells. Average daily production of the oil field during December, 1935, was about 6700 bbl.; total production for the year 1935 was approximately 2,020,770 barrels. The Cut Bank field in northern Montana is in a flat to rolling glaciated area used mainly for grazing purposes. Oil and gas occurs in sandstones and shaly sandstones in the Kootenai (Dakota) formation of Lower Cretaceous age at depths ranging from 2700 to 3000 ft. Prominent anticlinal or domal structure is not present, but small plunging anticlines occur locally. Strata dip westward from 75 to 200 ft. per mile. The field lies on the western flank of the Sweetgrass arch, a broad gentle upwarp over 150 miles long. Localization of oil and gas appears to be due either to pinching or lensing out of the sandstone beds, or else silting of the sandstones with clay minerals so that porosity becomes low. Within the field offset wells show marked variation in initial production, which suggests that differences in porosity of sandstone is the controlling factor. The gas-producing portion of the field is entirely updip (east) from the oil-producing portion, and the producing horizons are the same. Initial production of oil wells ranged from about 50 to about 200 bbl. per day, and initial open flow of gas wells ranged from about one million to about 37 million cubic feet per day, with an average of 11 million cubic feet. Initial gas pressures were slightly greater than 700 lb. per sq. in. Oil is brought to the surface by pumping. Both rotary and standard churn-drilling equipment are used. In the remaining 14 oil and gas fields but little new activity took place other than the drilling of offset wells and wells in proven territory. Continuation of "acid treatment" of wells in the Kevin and Pondera oil fields led to reconditioning of many old wells and the drilling of a number of new wells within these fields. Acid treatment of the oil-bearing horizon, which is the dolomitized and silicified Madison limestone of Mississippian age, has proved quite satisfactory, and some "bone dry"

Jan 1, 1936

By A. Andreas, E.H. Wells

The oil and gas industry of New Mexico recorded notable progress ill 1935. More wells were brought in than in any previous year, and important new discoveries were made. The total number of completions was 340, of which 260 were oil wells, 8 were gas wells and 72 were dry holes. The total oil production was 20,228,947 bbl., an appreciable increase over the 1934 production of 16,636,804 barrels. Many of the wells completed in southeastern New Mexico were acidized. This treatment proved highly effective in increasing the capacity of the wells, the resulting potentials usually being two to ten times as large as before acid treatment. In the Lea County fields in which proration was entirely on an acreage basis, the tendency of many of the operators was to complete their wells according to best conservation practice rather than to obtain the largest possible potential. Much remedial work was done in the Hobbs, Cooper, Jal and Eunice fields, and with excellent results. At many of the wells high gas-oil ratios were greatly reduced and encroaching waters shut off by setting packers. Several companies carried on pretentious geophysical campaigns in the southeastern part of the state. The location of the Amerada discovery well in the Monument field was based on geophysical surveys. The New Mexico Oil Conservation Commission, established by the 1935 Legislature and consisting of the Governor, the Commissioner of Public Lands and the State Geologist, began to function in May. Production in the state thereafter was based on orders issued by the Commission. Proration in the Hobbs field, which had been provided for since July, 1930, by successive proration agreements signed by all operators in the field and approved by the State Geologist, was continued by the Commission by giving approval to the current proration agreement,. A plan of proration for the other Lea County fields that had been in offect since early ill 1934 was adopted. 111 September, 1935, the Commission approved a. proration agreement for the Artesia-Jackson-Maljarnar area in Eddy and Lea counties that had been agreed upon by

Jan 1, 1936

By D. H. Newland

New York has a small but not insignificant place in the oil and natural gas industries of the United States. It has had a continuous record as an oil producer since 1872, with an aggregate yield of about 104,000,000 bbl. The reported output for 1935 was 4,237,000 bbl., a gain of more than 10 per cent for the year and a total that has been exceeded only in the early period of flush production half a century ago. The industry has been steadily building up since 1920 with the successful practice of the water drive, which has given a new lease of life to pools that had been practically drained of oil recoverable by pumping. An additional output of 2000 bbl. or more per acre is being procured by this method. Altogether the fields in New York State cover about 55,000 acres. Their limits are well defined and it is unlikely that they will be extended in the future, although there is some prospect of finding additional supplies by deeper drilling. The oil from New York is all classed as Pennsylvania grade, for which the recent price has been about $2.50 a barrel. It is refined at Olean, Wellsville and Bolivar, in the oil district, and partly in Pennsylvania refineries. Exploration for natural gas, outside of the established districts, was considerable during the year. Altogether 59 wells were drilled, distributed over 13 counties, of which 33 were listed as producers and 26 were dry. At the close of the year, 13 wells were in process of drilling. The 33 producing wells had a combined estimated flow of 278 million cubic feet per day. The best results were obtained from exploration in Allegany County, where out of eight wells drilled to the Oriskany sandstone five were successful and showed a combined open-flow capacity of 107 million cubic feet. The Oriskany sandstone was encountered at a depth of 4500 to 4900 ft. In Steuben County, next east of Allegany County, two out of seven wells to the Oriskany proved productive, and one of these, in the town of Greenwood, on the Watkins structure, was probably the largest that has so far been opened in the state, with a reported yield of 35 million a day. In the central part of New York interest was awakened by the activity shown in exploring for gas in the Trenton limestone, in Camden, Florence and Rome townships, Oneida

Jan 1, 1936

By R. E. Lamborn

A summary of oil and gas development in Ohio for 1935 must necessarily be brief. As attention of the state government to the oil and gas industry has never included the collection and compilation of statistics on production, either by producing sands, by counties, by fields, or for the state as a whole, such information as requested in Table 1 of this symposium is impossible to secure for this state. In the absence of production data chief attention must be directed to drilling activity for the year. Information such as can be compiled from various sources, including weekly drilling reports to operating companies and trade journals, is given in the following paragraphs with the realization that the data may not be complete in all its details. Drilling Activity by Fields Drilling activity during 1935 was similar to the preceding year in , that the major operating companies were generally content to drill lease-requirement and offset wells and in that comparatively little effort was made to discover new pools. A compilation of completions recorded in weekly reports to drilling companies and in trade journals show 1022 tests completed for the year in 53 counties of the state. Of this total number, 653 wells were commercial producers and 369 were classed as dry holes. Production was secured in 40 counties from formations ranging in depth to 5700 ft. and ranging in age from Middle Ordovician to upper Pennsyl-vanian. From the standpoint of new production for the year, the most important sands are the Clinton of Silurian age, the Berea of Mississippian age and the Shallow sands of Mississippian above the Berea and of Pennsylvanian age. Trenton Sand Field Production in the field of Trenton sand, which originally included parts of 15 counties in northwestern Ohio, is now on the decline. Seventy-three completions were reported in this field during 1935, of which 33.8 per cent were dry holes. Activity centered in Allen County with 12 completions, two of which were dry holes; in Hardin County with 11 producers; and in Wyandot County with 12 producers and 2 dry holes.

Jan 1, 1936

By H. E. Rorschach

Activity in the oil and gas fields of Oklahoma was more pronounced in 1935 than in 1934, with 2320 completions, an increase of about 21 per cent. The state produced approximately 185,000,000 bbl. in 1935. Osage County and shallow pools in northeastern Oklahoma showed considerable activity. The assembly of a complete table of the oil fields of the state (Table 1) was not achieved, as many of the early records of operators and pipe line companies are not complete, and data for the older fields will perhaps never be fully tabulated. Table 1 includes all of the new fields and most of the important fields of the State of Oklahoma. Increased Field Activities The discovery of large production in the deep Simpson group in the old Fox field in Carter County in the southern part of the state, the discovery of new producing horizons in the Fitts pool, and the extension of Wilcox production in the "Mansion" area at Oklahoma City were the outstanding developments in Oklahoma in 1935. Wildcatting resulted in the discovery of new pools such as Jesse, Hoyt, Grayson, South Keokuk, Wofford, Britton and Stillwater. The Fitts and Edmond pools were rapidly developed during the year. Fox Pool.—Deep production in southern Oklahoma became a reality in October when the Williams No. 1 well of Carter Oil Co. and others, in the Fox pool, began producing oil at the rate of 10,000 bbl. per day from a depth of 8088 ft. After flowing wild several days, the well was killed after pipe stuck and a difficult fishing job resulted. The job had not been completed at the end of the year 1935. This test, considered one of the most important oil discoveries in the Mid-Continent area, opened the entire South Oklahoma area to a deep exploration campaign for Simpson production and production in the Pennsylvanian series on the south flank of the Arbuckle Mountains.

Jan 1, 1936

By Norman Maxwell

There was more activity in crude production in northwestern Pennsylvania in 1935 than for several years before, resulting in an increased oil production and also in the number of wells completed. Crude -production approximated 16 million barrels for the state, an increase of about one million barrels over 1934. Demand, indicated by refiners' runs to stills, increased proportionally, leaving stocks of available crude at the end of the year at the lowest point since the middle of 1934, when they reached an all-time low. The price of crude varied during the year from a low of $2.02 to a high of $2.27 at the end of the year for Middle district oil. The price of Bradford and southwest Pcnnsylvania oil changed accordingly. The average for the year would be a lower price than in 1934. A summary of the production data for the year 1935 is given in Table 1. In making up this table, 1935 figures were simply added to the table published by S. H. Cathcart last year1. A list of important wildcats is given in Table 2. Bradford Field Approximately 10,000 acres of the proven producing area of the Bradford field is in Cattaraugus County, New York, and it is possible, by differences, to distinguish the Pennsylvania production from the New York portion. The listed production for the Bradford field includes only that portion of the field situated in Pennsylvania, but also includes production from a small pool, locally known as the Mt. Jewett-Kanesholm pool, where the Bradford sand is being developed and flooded in precisply the same manner as that of the Bradford field itself. The Mt. Jewett-Kanesholm pool is not, strictly speaking, an extension of the Bradford field, but inasmuch as it is so closely allied with the Bradford field-—that is, the sand is the same and the production methods are the same—the production and drilling figures include this area.

Jan 1, 1936

By Walter F. Pond, Kendall E. Born

Production of crude oil in Tennessee during 1935 approximated 20,000 bbl., an increase of about 5000 bbl. over 1934. The total production for the state is an estimate, since the only definite figures available are those for Scott and Morgan counties, where 12,377 bbl. were marketed during 1935, an increase of 4305 bbl. over the preceding year. The oil fields of Scott and Morgan counties are near the eastern margin of the Cumberland Plateau where Pennsylvanian sediments rest uncon-formably upon the Mississippian. Near Glenmary, in Scott County, the production is from the middle Mississippian, probably near the top of the St. Louis limestone. Accumulation is due to a low, east-west anticline which has been cut by a fault. This field is now 20 years old and only a few wells are pumped at present. Oil was Struck along Boone Camp Creek in Morgan County in 1924 and there has been small production since that time. The oil comes from the middle of the Fort Payne formation of lower Mississippian age at a depth of 1400 ft. Geologic work in the area has shown that a terrace and porosity conditions in the Fort Payne formation account for the accumulation. The production figures on a number of small producing wells in Clay and Overton counties are not available. As pointed out by Glenn1, the installation of small local skimming or topping plants in the fields has curtailed the shipment of crude oil out of the state and as a result it has been impossible to secure accurate production figures in these counties. The operators, in most cases, are reluctant to give information, and there is no state law requiring them to do so. Based upon information available to the writers, it is believed that between 7000 and 8000 bbl. is a fair estimate of the production in Clay and Overton counties during 1935. More than 500 wells have been drilled in Clay County, the majority of which were drilled east of Cumberland River. Some eight small oil fields have been developed in the county within the past 12 years, a

Jan 1, 1936

By R. B. Kelly, Paul Martin

Central Texas added 76 producing oil and gas wells during the year, abandoned 378 wells in the same period, and produced 10,359,905 bbl. of oil in the 12 months under consideration. The oil production represents a decline of only 3 per cent as compared to 1934, but it must be remembered that much new production was added during the year. The activity in new work centered in Frio, Bexar, Williamson and Cald-well counties, with development in the Pearsall, Von Ormy and Byersville fields taking first importance. New discoveries in 1935 were confined to Pearsall area of Frio County and an extension to the Darst Creek field in Guadalupe County. The Red Lake field, in eastern Freestone County, proved itself of importance from the standpoint of a gas reserve but no oil production has yet been obtained. In Bexar County, the Von Ormy field, in which the discovery well was drilled early in 1934, completed 22 oil producers during the year. (A map of Central Texas showing location of oil and gas fields was published in Volume 114 of the A.I.M.E. Transactions.) New Fields Pearsal1.—The Amerada Petroleum Corporation, in developing its 60,000-acre block in Frio County, has definitely proved the existence of commercial oil production in four separate horizons; namely, the Navarro, the Austin Chalk, the Buda and the Georgetown. The discovery well, a two million cubic foot gas well, was tompleted in 1934. A test of the Trinity sand at 10,050 ft. found salt water but later was plugged back and finished as an oil well in the Navarro sand. Most recent of their discoveries has been in the Austin Chalk at a depth of 5666 ft., where a 24-hr. gage through 1-in. choke showed 2640 bbl. of pipe line oil. The oil has a gravity of 28.0" A.P.I. and is brownish in color. Because of lack of pipe lines in the area, the wells are produced only for short periods of time, and it is predicted that development will be slow until the district is entered by pipe line purchasing companies. Von Ormy.—In March, 1934, Umbren et al. completed their Wentz

Jan 1, 1936

By Wallace Ralston

The East Texas area includes the northeast 38 counties of the state of Texas. It covers all, and extends beyond, the borders of what is commonly described as the East Texas Basin. It is one of the most important oil and gas-producing areas of the Mid-Continent Province. It includes four important oil fields—Van, East Texas, Cayuga and Long Lake— and the recent extension of Rodessa field into Cass County, Texas, may prove to be of major size. Four commercial gas fields are in this area— Bethany, Waskom, Cayuga and Long Lake. Up to January, 1936, all of the oil has been produced from the Upper Cretaceous formations, and most of that from the basal member, the Woodbine sand. Gas is produced from both the Upper and Lower Cretaceous formations. Development in Fields East Texas Field.—This field continued to dominate the drilling and production situation throughout the United States. There were 4036 wells completed in this field during 1935; that is, 365 more wells than were completed during 1934. Drilling activity was due to close spacing of wells and the addition of 10,000 acres to the field. The field is now drilled to a density of one well to 6½ acres, which is certainly more wells than necessary for economic production of the field. The close spacing of wells is due mostly to the type of proration, which is per well allowable based on a potential test, and does not take acreage into consideration, and also to the numerous small acreage tracts such as town lots and excess strips. The field now has 19,519 producing wells. The allowable production for the field during 1935 was 161,118,659 bbl.; estimated production, including illegal or "hot oil," was 174,200,150. The illegal production of oil gradually decreased throughout the year, until an estimated low was reached of 20,500 bbl. daily during the months of November and December. The price of oil remained at $1.00 per barrel throughout the year. As stated, about 10,000 acres were added to the field during the year, making a total of 128,000 productive acres. There is a possibility that

Jan 1, 1936

By W. F. Vietti

Operations in the Texas Gulf Coast during the past year have resulted in the discovery of a number of new fields arid the extension of a few of the older fields, both by deeper drilling and by lateral development. Twenty-six new oil and gas-producing areas and discovery of oil or gas in three subsequently abandoned wells have been recorded for a total of 29 new fields of varying importance. Producing areas at Conroe, Manvel, Greta, Pierce Junction, Hastings, Dirks, Thompson, Batson, Mykawa, Tomball, Raccoon Bend, Samfordyce arid Saxct have been increased. Primary geologic studies followed by geophysical mapping or straight geophysical prospects have been responsible for the more important discoveries. These methods have further proved themselves an aid to limiting wildcatting to the more prospective areas and as the chief means to discover reserves in the future. Production for 1935 totaled 69,560,720 bbl. as compared with 60,850,-360 bbl. for 1934. Strict proration has been in force throughout the discovery of more oil than has been produced. The number of producing oil wells has steadily increased to 4851 at the end of 1935, as compared with 3858 at the end of 1934, owing in part to the prolonged life, because of proration. There were 1272 oil and gas wells completed during 1935, as against 835 in 1934. New Fields Pertinent data on the new fields discovered during 1935 are includrd in Tables 1 and 2. Hence, the discussion of these discoveries will be limited. Bee County.—Three new gas fields were added during the year: Beeville, discovered by G. M. Church in No. 1 Wood on Sept. 21; Foley, discovered by Dirks Bros. in No. 1 Foley on Feb. 8; and Plummer, discovered by Hynes and Fisher in No. 1 T. M. Plummer on Sept. 2. The three new oil fields added are: Hartzendorf, drilled on fee land by Hartzendorf and completed on May 17 as a small pumper; Ray, southwest of Tuleta, and discovered by Jameson and Burns in No. 1 Campbell

Jan 1, 1936

By B. E. Thompson, H. B. Fuqua

For a very brief description of the North Texas area, and the general geological features with which it is associated, the reader is referred to the opening paragraph of last year's summary1. A more complete discussion of the structure of the area, together with other interesting data concerning it, has been published recently by the Bureau of Economic Geology at the University of Texas2. It has been impossible for the authors to isolate the statistics for production for each of the many small pools of this district, as such statistics are not kept by operators except by counties or arbitrary divisions of counties. The total number of wells drilled in Archer, Wichita and Clay counties also has been subject to some estimate, as many of the shallower holes are not reported. While both routine development in proven or semiproven areas and exploratory drilling during 1935 showed an increase over the year 1934, the discovery of new producing areas of importance did not show improvement over that period. Several extremely local productive spots within semiproven areas were found in Archer, Cooke and Wilbarger counties; and extensions to older producing areas were developed in Archer, Baylor, Cooke, Montague, Wichita and Wilbarger counties. In Archer County, the Grace and Woods No. 1 Archer County (Fee), 4 miles northwest of Archer City, in the Thomas Glass survey, encountered a sand from 2836 to 2845 ft. of Pennsylvanian (lower Canyon) age, which showed an initial yield of 75 bbl. daily. While its production is of negligible importance, it is given special mention in this review because of the fact that it is producing from a new and deeper horizon than has been previously exploited in the county. Little deep development occurred in the district during the year. The Walter Gant No. 2 C. M. Worsham in J. M. Swisher survey, about 14 miles east of Henrietta, in Clay County, was abandoned at 5127 ft. in

Jan 1, 1936

By T. F. Petty

During 1935 there were drilled in North Central Texas 1071 wells, of which 565 were dry holes, 469 were oil wells with an initial production of 43,766 bbl. and 37 were gas wells with an initial production of 129,332,000 cu. ft. Production has been 14,180,042 bbl., or a daily average of 38,849 bbl. In Table 1 are listed the various pools of the district. Most of the smaller pools are of minor importance and are merely productive spots. Numerous other similar spots might have been listed as pools but their production is included in other fields. There are a few flowing wells but practically all of the wells are being pumped. The estimated potential is about 50,000 bbl. and the allowable production is based on the Texas Marginal Well Law. In Table 2, wildcat wells that have resulted in the discovery of pools or important extensions to old pools or that have contributed to the geological information of the area are listed.

Jan 1, 1936