Developments in South Texas in 1975

Abstract

Drilling activity in South Texas increased from 2,147 wells in 1974 to 2,614 in 1975. The percentage of successful exploratory wells increased from 30 in 1974 to 38.7 in 1975. Although 383 more development wells were drilled in 1975 than in 1974 for a 30.6% increase, development-well successes were down only 0.6% over the 1974 percentage of 77.4. The main exploration targets were the Frio and Wilcox trends followed in order by the Cretaceous, Claiborne, Miocene, and Vicksburg. The Wilcox play in Webb and Zapata Counties continues to be very active. South Texas offshore activity was down with a total of 21 wells drilled versus 28 for the year before. The success ratio for the offshore exploratory wells was only 9.5%. A boom in development-well activity developed in Distric 1 due to the Austin Chalk play. This accounts for the 58.1% increase in development-well activity in this area.