Oklahoma Oil and Gas

Oklahoma’s prominent place in the oil industry is fortuitous, a result of encompassing the bulk of the hydrocarbon rich Anadarko, Arkoma, and Ardmore geologic basins and their associated shelves and platforms. The sedimentary basins that have yielded the bulk of Oklahoma oil production are mostly Pennsylvanian in age, but oil and gas reservoirs across the State range from Cambrian to Cretaceous. The first commercial paying well, the Nellie Johnstone No. 1, was drilled in 1896 near Bartlesville (Washington County). Completed in 1897 as the discovery well for the giant Bartlesville-Dewey Field, the well ushered in the oil era for Oklahoma Territory.

After the turn of the century, discoveries were made in rapid succession in areas that would eventually encompass many of the 26 major oil fields. All but five of the majors were discovered before the end of World War II; the last of them, the Postle Field, was found in Texas County in 1958(Northcutt, 1985). Although the 26 majors constitute only about 1% of the total number of fields, they account for 59% of the total oil produced (Lay, 2001). Until overtaken by California in 1923, Oklahoma remained the leading producing state in the U.S. (Hinton, 2001). Peak annual production of 278 million barrels (762,000 bbls/day) was reached in 1927, with several intermediate highs and lows since then. The peaks and valleys result from changes in the number of wells drilled and completed as well as from the size of the fields being found.