Developments in California in 1946

Exploratory activity in 1946 subsided somewhat from the record level of 1945 but was still substantially ahead of 1944. Three hundred sixty-six exploratory wells were completed in 1946, a total exploratory distance of 1,584,647 feet or 300 miles. The total number of completions, total footage, and percentage of success for the different types of exploratory wells were as follows: new-field wildcats-211 wells, 950,855 feet, wells 8.5 per cent successful, footage 11.1 per cent successful; new-pool wildcats-47 wells, 230,720 feet, wells 27.7 per cent successful, footage 26.8 per cent successful; deeper-pool tests-29 wells, 78,695 feet, wells 10.3 per cent successful, footage 6.8 per cent successful; shallower-pool tests-4 wells, 19,585 feet, wells 75.0 per cent successful, footage 78.3 per cent successful; outposts-75 wells, 304,792 feet, wells 44.0 per cent successful, footage 38.6 per cent successful. All exploratory wells were 19.1 per cent successful as to number and 19.4 per cent successful as to footage; the analogous figures for 1945 were 21.0 per cent successful as to number of wells and 17.5 percent successful as to footage. Thirty oil pools and fields and 7 gas pools and fields were discovered in 1946. Subsurface geology again played a major role in locating the wells that made discoveries. New pools, new fields, and successful outpost wells added about 132,000,000 barrels to oil reserves and about 110,000,000 MCF to dry gas-field gas reserves. None of the new pools or fields can be rated yet as a major discovery. Production in 1946 was approximately 317,500,000 barrels (including condensate) and 528,000,000 MCF of gas. There were 57 active exploratory wells at the close of 1946.