Developments in South Texas in 1946

Abstract

The rate of development in the South Texas district during 1946 surpassed that of previous years. The increased rate of development in proved areas resulted from the election by operators to revert from density patterns established by the Petroleum Administration for War to density patterns set out by the Railroad Commission of Texas for each field. There was a decline in the rate of wildcat developments in 1946 as well as a decrease in the rate of new field discoveries. The new fields discovered do not appear to be of major reserve importance or equal in potential reserves to the annual production of the district. The 15,384 oil wells in the South Texas district produced 137,934,170 barrels of oil, approximately 5 per cent of the world production, 8 per cent of the Unite States production, or 18 per cent of the annual oil production of Texas. The 1,085 gas wells tendered to gas transmission lines 510,399,785 MCF of gas during the year. Over 54 per cent of all development in South Texas was located in the Frio-Vicksburg trend which is supplying 76 per cent of the production of the district.