Three wells were drilled in Iowa during 1986. Two were dry holes in southwestern Page County, and the third was a small oil well in Washington County, 5 mi from the first known oil producer in the state (drilled in 1963, that well produced only 412 bbl of oil).

In Kansas, drilling continued a downward trend to a total of 4,185 completions, 30% fewer than reported in 1985. Exploratory drilling found 173 new discoveries, a third fewer than in 1985. The most active area in the state was the Anadarko basin.

The petroleum industry in Missouri concentrated its entire drilling effort in the Forest City basin. The 22 wells drilled in 1986 were only 17.6% of the total number of wells drilled in the state in 1985. Oil production was down 42%, partly because of the abandonment of 1 steam flood in Vernon County.

In Nebraska, 185 exploratory and development wells were drilled in 1986. The success rate for exploratory wells was 18.27%; the success rate for development wells was 47.3%.

Wisconsin and Minnesota reported no drilling activities. However, the Minnesota Geological Survey is studying the Mid-Continent rift from Vibroseis data contributed by Petty-Ray (Geosource) and supplemented with gravity and magnetic models.