We recently came across a 2012 map created by Joe Wertz of StateImpact Oklahoma depicting our state’s oil production at that time. We thought it would be interesting (and fun) to see what has changed over the past five years and create an updated Oklahoma oil and gas well map.
Oklahoma Oil Production
First, some background. The 2012 map was based on Oklahoma Corporation Commission monthly production data from January to June 2012. Our 2017 map is based on the cumulative production of wells that were active and producing during January-May 2017. Despite the differences in time scale, we can still make some interesting observations by comparing the two maps.
Check out the interactive version of the map at: https://stateimpact.npr.org/oklahoma/maps/map-where-oklahoma-oil-is-produced/
Back in 2012, nearly half of Oklahoma’s production was coming from 3 major counties – Carter, Ellis and Stephens. Today, the data suggest that production has become more widespread in the state with a pronounced area of highly productive counties in the south-central region.
Thirteen counties now produce half of the state’s crude oil. Interestingly, two of the three big 2012 producers- Stephens and Carter counties, today account for 25% of the reported amount in 2017.
The state’s number one oil-producing county is Stephens, which delivers 13% of our total production. That’s somewhat higher than 2012’s highest producing county, Carter, which produced nearly 11% of the state’s total.
Something else you might notice as you compare the two maps above is the recent oil production coming from Oklahoma’s easternmost counties. In 2012, 11 of these counties report no oil production, while today 6 of those counties are reporting oil production, albeit in small amounts ranging from 895 barrels to about 13,000 barrels.
Kingfisher County, the core of the STACK play was ranked 25th in oil production in 2012 with a reported 482,716 thousand barrels during the first six months of the year. In contrast, the county reportedly produced 20,458,183 million barrels during the past 12 months. It’s now ranked at #10 in the state. You can see the current ranking of other counties in the map below.
Top 10 Counties
* ”Cumulative oil” is limited to the number of wells that have reported any production over the last 12 months and “cumulative oil” is the sum total of all the production for this set of wells. The total does not include production from inactive or production from plugged wells.
Sources: StateImpact Oklahoma, IHS
Julie Parker has a decade of experience serving the Energy industry where she became an expert in the integration and application of geospatial technologies to exploration and production projects and workflows. Ms. Parker entered the industry in 2006 when she became the first GIS Director for Chesapeake Energy, a large independent producer of natural gas headquartered in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma with operations throughout the U.S. During her tenure at Chesapeake, Ms. Parker built and lead a robust, cross-functional GIS department that gained a reputation for developing and deploying leading edge solutions for nearly all areas of the company.
FACTOID: Ever wonder how many oil wells in Oklahoma? In 2021, there were just over 51k oil and gas wells that reported some amount of production for the year.
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