Exploratory drilling during 1952 led to the discovery of one Oriskany sand gas pool (Lower Devonian) in the Leidy field of Clinton County, north-central Pennsylvania, and four shallow-sand gas pools (Upper Devonian) in western Pennsylvania. The total number of shallow wells drilled was practically the same as in 1951. The Bradford field accounted for 78 per cent of Pennsylvania's oil production during 1952. The average daily oil production for the entire state in 1952 was 31,089 barrels, as compared with 31,094 barrels in 1951.

One hundred and fifty-three deep wells (Lower Devonian or deeper) were completed in 1952, as compared with 84 in 1951. Of these, 73 were gas wells, 3 were drilled for gas storage, and 77 were dry holes. Thirty-four of the deep wells can be classified as exploratory. Of these, only two were successful.

Major activities in Pennsylvania during 1952 were confined to the Oriskany sand gas territory of north-central Pennsylvania. The main pool in the Leidy gas field in Clinton County, discovered early in 1950, was extended somewhat and now includes about 11,000 acres. Due to its intensive exploitation, production had dropped to about 30,000,000 cubic feet of gas per day at the end of 1952, as compared with 150,000,000 cubic feet in 1951. At the end of 1952, the pool had produced about 87.6 billion cubic feet of gas. The small subsidiary pool southeast of the main pool, discovered early in 1952, produced about 8 billion cubic feet. The Driftwood field in Cameron County, discovered in 1951, was developed over an area of about 1,400 acres and had produced approximately 3 billion cubic feet f gas by the end of the year. Three prominent domes in north-central Pennsylvania, the Ferney, Germania, and Hyner, were tested sufficiently to indicate that they will probably not be proved productive in the Oriskany. The Ordovician test on the Schellsburg dome in Bedford County, south-central Pennsylvania, was abandoned in 1952. A flow of 600,000 cubic feet of sour gas per day was encountered in the Bellefonte dolomite (Lower Ordovician) 26 feet below its top, but the flow had exhausted itself before the well was completed.