Development Paper District 20 includes Maryland, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia.

In Maryland, 3 gas storage wells were drilled in Accident field, Garrett County. Total new footage drilled was 22,843 ft. Gas production from Garrett County fields (95,686 Mcf) increased 17% from 1977 production.

In Ohio, drilling operations decreased 1.7% in 1978 compared to the previous year. However, despite this decrease, the number of drilling operations (2,690) ranked as the second highest in Ohio in the past decade. A total of 2,606 new wells was drilled for oil and gas resulting in 844 gas, 273 oil, 1,273 combination oil and gas, and 216 dry holes, a success rate of 91.7%; 87 exploratory wells are included. The most active target was the Lower Silurian "Clinton-Medina" sandstone with 2,163 wells, 2,018 of which were successful (93.3%). An additional 329 new wells were drilled to the Berea Sandstone, 301 of which were productive (91.5%). The total new footage drilled was 10,236,580 ft, up 6.2% from 1977. Oil production for the year was 11,154,473 bbl, up 7.7%; gas production was 115,239 373 Mcf, up 15.6%.

Pennsylvania's drilling activity increased in 1978 from that of 1977 by 4% in exploratory drilling and 20% in development drilling. In 1978, 1,748 wells were drilled (1,707 new, 41 deepened), up 12.7%. The number of gas wells (1,105) increased 59%; oil wells (572) decreased 16%; and oil and gas combination wells (15) increased 50%. There were 28 gas discoveries and 1 oil discovery in 1978. Gas production (97,763 MMcf) increased 6%, and oil production (2,820,000 bbl) increased 6%. Footage drilled in new and deepened wells was 4,581,717 ft (up 32.4%) of which 378,486 ft (9%) was exploratory. Seismic activity (134 crew-weeks) increased 72% in 1978.

Drilling activity in Virginia increased considerably in 1978 with 30 new wells drilled and 1 deepened, up 30.4% from the previous year. Of the 31 completions, 29 were successful; 3 of 5 exploratory wells (60.0%) and all development wells were successful. All of the successes were gas wells completed in the Mississippian Ravencliff, Injun, Weir, and Berea sands, the Mississippian Greenbrier Limestone (Big Lime), and the Devonian shales. Total footage drilled was 147,720 ft, up 19.6% from the previous year's total. Development drilling totaled 123,954 ft (4,877 ft average per well) and exploratory footage was 23,766 ft (4,753 ft average). Production of natural gas in Virginia during 1978 totaled 8,491,817 Mcf from 227 wells by 8 companies in 5 counties, a 3.3% increase from last year. C ude oil production increased 648 bbl (37.2%) to 2,390 bbl from 5 wells in the Ben Hur and Rose Hill fields, Lee County. The level of production and drilling should remain constant in 1979.

There was a significant increase (13.9%) in total well completions in West Virginia from 1977 to 1978. This increase in activity resulted in the largest number of total completions since 1962. Exploratory completions increased 54.4% from last year. The more active programs concentrated on lower Chemung and Brallier sands in many north-central counties, and on deep Oriskany tests along the Allegheny Front and Valley and Ridge provinces. Deep drilling increased 82.9% during the year, resulting in 2 new fields and 3 new pools. Glenville was the most active gas field and Griffithsville the most active oil field. Total footage was 4,862,201, up 1,031,375 ft, or 26.9%, the second straight year with an increase of more than 1 million ft. An additional 72,345 ft was drilled in 24 wells for ga storage, water injection, coal gasification, and salt brine. Oil production (2,278,000 bbl) decreased 5.2%, and gas production (154,568 MMcf) increased 1.2%.

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