In Kansas, drilling activity in 1981 reached an all-time high of 6,865 wells, a 30% increase over 1980. Exploration and development drilling of oil reservoirs dominated this activity with oil completions up 42.4% to 3,089, while completions of gas wells were up only 8% to 617 wells. Total footage drilled amounted to 23,618,361 compared with 14,546,356 in 1980. Approximately 22% of total wells were classified as exploratory, 77% were development, and less than 1% were miscellaneous tests. Exploratory drilling continued to spread slowly into the lesser drilled areas of the state while development drilling favored the well-established producing counties. The average depth of an exploratory test was 4,063 ft or 79 ft deeper than last year, while development wells averaged 3,2 0 ft in depth. All wells classified as exploratory had a success rate of 21%, compared to 64% for all development wells. The success rate of all wells drilled was 54%.

In Missouri, drilling was up a moderate 13.5% over last year. However, the most startling information was the 200% increase in new-field wildcat completions, which were drilled in 6 counties. Total footage drilled was 133,531 compared with 77,525 in 1980. The average depth of a test was 339 ft. Oil production for the year was 226,206 bbl, up 70%. The success rate among all tests drilled was 42.13%.