Developments in upper Gulf Coast of Texas in 1953

The 29 counties covered in this paper comprise District III of the Texas Railroad Commission. In all, 1,811 wells were drilled in 1953. Of these, 1,055 were successful completions, and 756 dry. There were 571 exploratory wells drilled, 72 oil completions, and 66 gas completions. These resulted in twenty new oil structures and seventeen new gas structures, the remaining (101) were new pools and extensions. Several may be considered important. Drilling continued to add to the reserves. One source estimated that 252,000,000 barrels were added to the reserves of the area. The majority of wells drilled were in areas of salt domes. Production for area was 170,192,160 barrels of oil and 924,808,890 MCF of gas. Geophysical activity numbered 2,543 crew-weeks. Twenty-eight new-field discoveries are the result of subsurface and seismograph interpretations. The sale of offshore leases consummated in December, 1953, will greatly accelerate activity in offshore activities during 1954.