The table of oil and gas operations in West Virginia by counties in 1953 gives the pertinent facts regarding drilling results. Comparison totals for the preceding 6 years are also shown in the bottom six lines of the table.

Permits to drill or deepen issued by the State Department of Mines totaled 712, or 58 more than in 1952, an increase of 8.87 per cent. Eight other permits were issued but cancelled before any drilling operations were commenced: one each in the following counties: Gilmer, Lewis, Logan, McDowell, Pleasants, Roane, Wayne, and Wyoming. Four less gas wells, 10 less oil wells, 3 less oil and gas wells, 17 more storage, brine, water-injection, and pressure wells, 11 more dry holes, were completed in 1953 than in 1952.

Total completions were 712 as against 701 in 1952, an increase of 11, or 1.57 per cent. Ritchie County, with 79 completions, topped the list of completions by counties, followed by Lincoln with 57, Logan with 55, Mingo with 49, Calhoun with 46, Gilmer with 39, and Wayne with 37. These seven counties accounted for 362 completions, or nearly half of the total completions. Of the wells uncompleted or unreported if completed at the end of the year, 104, or 39 per cent, were from these same seven counties. Seventeen wells were uncompleted or unreported if completed in Wetzel County and the same number in Wood County, giving a total of 138, or more than half from the nine counties

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Table OIL AND GAS OPERATIONS IN WEST VIRGINIA, BY COUNTIES, 1953

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mentioned. Drilling depths ranged from 345 to 8,508 feet, as against 75 to 8,175 feet in 1952.

The total footage drilled (1,959,449 feet) decreased 85,372 feet under the 1952 total (2,044,821), or 4.66 per cent. The total footage drilled does not include any footage for wells tabulated as drilling. The actual footage drilled would be slightly less than given if the original depths of wells deepened were known and subtracted from the total given. For comparative purposes, footage for deeper drilling would likely be nearly the same from year to year. The average depth (2,738 feet) is 179 feet, or 6.14 per cent less than in 1952 (2,917 feet). This would probably be accounted for by less drilling to Oriskany sand in developed fields.

The total initial daily open flow of the gas wells was 393,780 MCF, a decrease of 17,362 MCF, or 4.22 per cent under 1952.

The range in size of the gas wells was 12 to 22,247 MCF, compared with 10 to 19,000 MCF in 1952.

The average size of the gas wells was 850 MCF compared with 878 MCF in 1952, a decrease of 3.19 per cent.

The daily initial oil was 598¼ barrels, 183 3/4 barrels less than in 1952, or 23.50 per cent. The range in size of the oil wells was 3/4 barrel to 90 barrels daily, compared with ¼ to 80 barrels in 1952. The average size of the oil wells was 9.2 barrels, compared with 10.7 barrels in 1952, a decrease of 14 per cent. In calculating the average size of the wells, half the total number of oil and gas wells (fifth column of table) was added to the total gas wells and total oil wells as given in the third and fourth columns of the table.

At the end of the year, 269 wells were drilling or unreported if completed. This was 4 more than in 1952, an increase of 1.51 per cent. Letters were sent to 171 operators regarding 331 wells not reported. Replies were received from 93 operators regarding 226 wells, leaving 78 operators unheard from concerning 105 wells.

Seven counties (Logan, Mingo, Wood, Lincoln, Preston, Kanawha, and Nicholas, in that order) had a daily initial open flow of 282,352 MCF, or approximately 70 per cent of the total for the state.

Preston County, with its 9 wells, had the largest average initial daily open flow of 2,770 MCF. Three counties (Jackson, Ritchie, and Roane) had daily initial oil of 299 barrels, or approximately 50 per cent of the total for the state, with about 50 per cent of the total number of oil wells being drilled in these three counties.

Preliminary estimates of production for 1953 are: gas, 180,000,000 MCF, an increase of 7,700,000 MCF over the 1952 estimate (172,300,000 MCF), or 4.4 per cent; oil, 3,000,000 barrels, an increase of 399,000 barrels over the 1952 estimate (2,601,000 barrels), or 15.3 per cent. Estimates for both oil and gas production are averages of two or more published estimates since they were not very close together.

Eight locations were abandoned and permits cancelled, one each in the following counties: Gilmer, Lewis, Logan, McDowell, Pleasants, Roane, Wayne, and Wyoming.

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Several wells drilling are to be storage wells in Harrison, Kanawha, Lewis, Marion, Marshall, Putnam, Roane, and Wetzel counties.

Interesting deep wildcat tests now drilling in various parts of the state (depths as of December 31, 1953) are the following.

Thomas Williams No. 1, Hardy County; at 3,820 feet (Clinton sand, 3,315-3,807 feet).
James Sites No. 1, Pendleton County, at 3,253 feet; bad hole; cemented.
Willie J. Trout No. 1, Tucker County; shut down at 4,056 feet, with show of gas and water at 2,425 feet.
W. E. Hedrick No. 1, Greenbrier County; drilling at 2,170 feet.
D. C. Grimm No. 1 (L-838), Preston County; depth, 7,277 feet; gas show at 3,342 and 6,980 feet; chert, 6,918 feet; Oriskany sand, 7,102 feet. (Northern extension of Terra Alta field.)
Ethel Mullenax No. 1 (GW-1195), Preston County; drilling at 4,641 feet.
Robert Breedlove No. 1 (GW-1196), Preston County; depth, 4,854 feet; top of chert, 4,777 feet; bad hole; drilling out at 4,804 feet; gas shows, 3,802 feet and 4,817 feet.
Scott Morris No. 9725, Nicholas County; drilling at 6,527 feet.
Tucker County Court No. 1, Tucker County; drilling at 4,262 feet.
Elk Horn Coal Corp. No. 1, Randolph County; drilling at 1,000 feet.
Hugh Beckett No. 1, Braxton County; depth, 6,662 feet; Onondaga, 6,500 feet; Oriskany sand, 6,660 feet. Deepened from 4,108 feet.
Waitman Bennett No. 1, Pendleton County; location; rig up.
W. H. Blair No. 1, Tucker County; drilling at 1,425 feet. Gas show at 507 feet (40 M.) exhausted.
J. Lee Taylor No. 1, Wood County; drilling at 2,630 feet.
J. Sanford Lilly No. 1 (6788), Summers County; cleaning out at 7,929 feet; Onondaga, 7,880 feet.
Gill-Porter No. 5 (576), Cabell County; drilling at 3,390 feet.

Interesting wildcat completions during the year were the following.

H. and E. Davidson No. 8011-T, Hardy County; total depth, 7,322 feet. Oriskany sand, 6,951 feet; gas, 7,032 feet (39 M.--blew out); Helderberg, 7,298 feet. Abandoned.
Cora L. Brown No. 6812, Wirt County; total depth, 8,206 feet. Corniferous lime, 4,848 feet. Oriskany sand, 5,030 feet. Helderberg, 5,164-5,585 feet. Tonoloway, 5,585-5,980 feet. Newburg, 6,120-6,395 feet. (Faulted.) Tonoloway, 6,395-6,870 feet. Newburg, 7,148-7,160 feet. Keefer, 7,545-5,484 feet. Clinton sand, 8,045-6,206 feet.
Woodrow W. McBride No. 1, Hampshire County; total depth, 6,030 feet. Oriskany sand, 5,602-5,734 feet. Gas, 5,636-5,639 feet, 76 MCF; 1,750# R. P.
Rosa B. Wolfe No. 9745, Monongalia County; total depth, 8,508 feet. Onondaga line, 7,257 feet. Chert, 7,277 feet; show of gas in chert at 7,358 feet. Oriskany sand, 7,478-7,554 feet. Tonoloway 7,959 feet. Rock salt, 8,380-8,410 feet, 8,427-8,480 feet, and 8,502-8,508 feet. Well drilled through Oriskany by Hope Natural Gas Co. and deepened by four companies interested in proving presence of rock salt in the area.

Development of the Oriskany Sand gas field in northwestern Wood County is continuing with good results. Several productive wells were drilled in the Oriskany gas fields in Kanawha, Putnam, and Jackson counties. Development of gas in the "Brown shale" (Devonian shales) continues in Kanawha, Lincoln, Logan, Mingo, and Wayne counties. Six gas wells were completed in Wetzel County in the Pittsburgh coal. A new shallow gas field has been developed at Cowen, Webster County, while development of the Randolph County gas field on the Hiram anticline is continuing.

In many new wells the sands are being fractured by various methods with good results. This method will probably be tried out on some of the old oil and gas wells during the year.

Flooding operations are being started on a much larger scale, following passage of legislation permitting this method of secondary recovery. The results have been very satisfactory so far. Most of the increased production in 1953 was from water flooding.

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