NEW YORK. In the Oriskany development in New York state 20 wells were completed and 16 were drilling. There were no new discoveries. Activity centered on the 1944 discovery in Tuscarora Township, Steuben County, where 6 producing wells had a combined open flow of 58,000 MCF to prove about 700 acres and outline the new South Addison field with 5 dry holes. This field produced over two-thirds of the total 6,940,000 MCF of gas taken from Oriskany fields during the year, and added 6 billion cubic feet to the Oriskany gas reserves.

Table I presents the results of deep drilling in 1945 and Figure 1 shows the location of Oriskany fields and the 14 wildcat wells in operation in New York during the year. Total Oriskany gas produced from these fields since their discovery in 1930 is over 141 billion cubic feet.

In the Medina gas belt along Lake Erie there were no significant developments.

In the oil-producing area of southwestern New York well completions dropped from 1,488 in 1944 to 1,350 in 1945 and daily average production dropped from 13,075 barrels to 12,402 barrels.

Leasing activity was confined to the area surrounding the new Oriskany field and to the acquisition of blocks around wildcat wells and in areas for future testing. Exploration geological and geophysical work was practically dormant.

PENNSYLVANIA. A decline of 19 per cent occurred in the number of wells completed in the shallow gas territory of western Pennsylvania (Upper Devonian or higher) in 1945 as compared with 1944. Although a number of gas wells with initial open flows in excess of one million cubic feet per day were brought in at several widely separated localities, only one new gas pool of significant size was developed. This is a Haskell sand pool south of the Bradford oil pool in McKean County.

There was a slight decline in the number of wells drilled in connection with water-flooding in the northern oil district and air-drives in the middle district. Oil production in the Bradford field showed a further decline of 11 per cent during 1945, but the field still accounted for 50 per cent of the total Pennsylvania-grade crude oil production of the Appalachian province. In the middle and southwestern districts, oil production increased 3 per cent due mainly to the more intensive application of air-drives in the middle district. A Haskell sand oil pool of modest size was discovered in Keating Township, McKean County, and a small Gordon sand pool in North Strabane Township, Washington County.

Ten deep wells (Onondaga or deeper) were completed in western Pennsylvania in 1945 and one well was abandoned above the Onondaga at a depth of 7,467 feet after it had crossed a fault zone. Of the ten completed, one in the Tioga field is being used in connection with the underground storage of gas in that field, and the others were abandoned as dry holes in the deeper sands.

OHIO. One thousand thirty-four completions were listed for Ohio during the year. Of these 220, or 21.3 per cent, were oil wells, 429, or 41.5 per cent, were gas wells and 385, or 37.2 per cent, were dry.

One hundred fifty-eight holes tested the shallow sands above the Berea, 225 penetrated the Berea, 8 were carried into the Ohio shale of Devonian age, 42 were planned as Oriskany tests, 7 reached the Newburg horizon in the base of the Salina group, and 575 were drilled through the Clinton sand, the most important producing formation in the state.

Little activity was reported in the Trenton fields in northwestern Ohio where only 5 gas wells, 5 oil wells and 7 dry holes were completed.

A sub-Trenton test in an older part of the Clinton field in Ashland County gauged 220 MCF from the lower Magnesian dolomite between 4,420 and 4,434 feet but water was encountered at a depth of 4,537 feet. The hole was carried to a depth of 5,251 feet and abandoned but this encouraging showing will result in further testing of this formation. The only other sub-Trenton test was drilled in Ross County and was dry. Although few holes have been drilled in that part of the state, the information gained by this test is said to indicate better structural conditions in the immediate vicinity and further drilling may result.

The only important new field opened during the year is in Columbiana and Mahoning counties where 14 gas wells and 11 dry holes were completed. This production is from a stratigraphic trap along the western edge of the Oriskany sand at an average depth of 3,600 feet. The discovery well had an open-flow capacity of 6,000 MCF and a closed pressure in excess of 1,300 pounds.

WEST VIRGINIA. The amount of drilling was somewhat less than that of 1944 as is indicated by the completion details for the state. No new oil fields or pools were discovered, but current outpost drilling was fairly successful. One Oriskany sand gas discovery was made in Jackson County, this resulting in a new pool with 10 productive wells by the end of the year.

The Blue Creek Oriskany sand pool in Kanawha County, discovered in 1944, was further developed to the extent of 9 producing wells.

In the shallow sands, from the Berea sand upward, there were two successful wild cats in Logan County and one in Raleigh County.

At year’s end the most concentrated drilling was in Wyoming County where gas production is being developed in the Ravencliff, Maxton, Weir, and Berea sands and in the Greenbrier limestone.

KENTUCKY. No new oil or gas pools were discovered in eastern Kentucky during 1945 and proven areas produced 1,524,764 barrels of oil and a total of 123,203 MCF was developed by the completion of 216 new gas wells. South-central Kentucky, which includes the old Allen, Barren, Cumberland, and Wayne County pools, produced 232,361 barrels of oil, 121,171 barrels coming from new pools and extensions in Clinton County. For the first time in its oil history Kentucky passed the 10,000,000-barrel mark by producing a total of 10,019,641 barrels of oil; however, western Kentucky produced 8,262,516 barrels of this total.

The most important wildcat well in eastern Kentucky during the year was drilled near Hyden in Leslie County which encountered 133 MCF in the “Big Six” sand of Silurian age. This wildcat is located 17 miles from production.

The most outstanding oil developments were extensions to the pools in Elliott, Menifee, and Jackson counties.

TENNESSEE. Oil production in 1945 in Tennessee east of the Cincinnati arch was slightly more than 6,000 barrels, most of which came from the Mississippian limestone in Scott and Morgan counties. Thirty million cubic feet of gas was marketed off the lease in Morgan County and about 10 million cubic feet was produced in the Jamestown field in Fentress County.

There were five completions during the year and all were dry holes. The most significant test, drilled in Cumberland County, abandoned at 3,707 feet. A small showing of oil was found at 3,429-3,435 feet, 79 feet below the top of the Knox dolomite group.

There was considerable amount of leasing in the Mississippi Embayment area in western Tennessee late in the year.

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