English (United Kingdom)

https://curated-unify.zendy.io/wp-json/zendy-region/v1/featured_content/oa?rat=en

https://curated-unify.zendy.io/wp-json/zendy-region/v1/highlighted_journal/

Global: Zendy Plus annual

Presents the access of premium content as premium feature

Premium Content

Presents the keyphrase highlighting as premium feature

Keyphrase Highlighting

Presents the summarisation as premium feature

Summarisation

Insights

Presents the pdf analysis as premium feature

PDF Analysis

Presents the zaia usage as premium feature

ZAIA

Global: Zendy Plus monthly

Global: Zendy Tools annual

Global: Zendy Tools monthly

Global: Zendy Free Plan

A total of about 140 oil and gas test wells have been drilled in southwestern Virginia. About half of these are in Lee County; the remainder are in Scott, Washington, Smyth, Wythe, Pulaski, Montgomery, Wise, Dickenson, Buchanan, Tazewell, and Giles Counties. The first exploratory well for oil or gas in southwestern Virginia was drilled in Wise County in the early 1890's, but commercial gas production was not established until the discovery well of the Early Grove gas field was drilled in 1931. In Lee County, about 11 wells were drilled between 1910 and 1942; a small amount of oil was produced from one of the wells in 1924. The first commercial oil in Virginia was discovered by the B. C. Fugate No. 1 well in Lee County, which opened the Rose Hill field in 1942. Production increased slowly until 1947 and then declined. Gas was discovered in central Buchanan County in 1948 by the United Producing Co., in the W. M. Ritter No. l-V-1461 well, and it was found in Dickenson County near Nora in the Clinchfield Coal Corp. No. 101 well. Gas is present in commercial quantities in sandstones and limestones of Mississippian age, and in black shales of Devonian age. Gas accumulation is controlled primarily by porosity and secondarily by structure. In January 1950, the 15 gas wells in Buchanan and Dickenson Counties were shut in, and 15 other wells were being drilled in the hope of proving enough reserves to justify a pipe line. Nearly all the wells in southwestern Virginia are shallow cable-tool holes ranging in depth from 303 to 6,000 feet. The deepest well, the Kipps Anthracite Coal Co. No. 1, was drilled with rotary tools by the California Co. about 1 mile south of Blacksburg, Montgomery County. The well is located in the Price Mountain fenster near the crest of an anticline. It started in the Mississippian Price sandstone and was abandoned as a dry hole in the Ordovician Moccasin limestone at a depth of 9,340 feet. Well samples studied for this report were examined dry under a low-power microscope as routine procedure, but occasionally samples were moistened so that such features as oolites and small fossils could be seen. Grain-size charts and color charts were used to standardize the descriptions of samples by different observers. Simple tests, such as hardness and reaction to hydrochloric acid, were used for determination of minerals. The rocks encountered by the drill range in age from the Cambrian (Rome formation) to the Pennsylvanian (Pottsville group). Possible producing zones include the following formations, arranged in descending stratigraphic order: 501 502 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY the Lee formation, Princeton sandstone, Stony Gap and other sandstone members of the Hinton formation, Greenbrier limestone, Little Valley limestone, Price sandstone, Mississippian and Devonian black shales, Huntersville chert of Price (1929), sandstone of probable Oriskany age, Clinton formation, Clinch sandstone, Trenton limestone, Eggleston limestone, and Moccasin limestone. The correlations given in the well summaries in this report and in the descriptions of samples that are open-filed are conjectural. The identification of a particular unit is probably consistent within a field, but the correlation with the outlying wells and the surface sections is less certain. , Many stratigraphic and structural problems in the area remain unsolved. Additional subsurface studies will be helpful in providing control for stratigraphic and structural interpretation. Many of the sediments were deposited in or near deltas, and a more complete picture of the conditions of deposition is needed before the correlations in this area can be regarded as reasonably certain. INTRODUCTION Test wells for oil and gas were drilled in southwestern Virigina in increasing numbers during the period 1942 to 1950, following the discovery of the Rose Hill oil field. This increasing interest in the oil and gas possibilities of that area has made it desirable to gather together the available information on exploratory wells. About 70 wells have been drilled in Lee County, and about the same number have been drilled in Scott, Washington, Smyth, Wythe, Pulaski, Montgomery, Wise, Dickenson, Russell, Buchanan, and Giles Counties combined. The locations of fields and isolated wells are shown on figure 70 and are further identified in the table on page 504. More-detailed maps of parts of Buchanan and Dickenson Counties, figures 71 and 72, show the location of wells in these counties, including the location of individual wells within fields. This report was prepared by the United States Geological Survey hi cooperation with the Division of Geology, Virginia Department of Conservation and Development. It is an outgrowth of the cooperative work on oil and gas possibilities of southwestern Virginia that resulted in reports by Butts (1927a), Averitt (1941), Miller and Fuller (1944, 1947, and 1954), Wilpolt and Marden (1949), and Miller and Brosg6 (1950 and 1954). This report is the direct continuation of the work of Wilpolt and Marden on the upper Mississippian stratigraphy of southwestern Virginia. The report consists of the history and status of gas and oil fields, method of sample examination, evaluation of sample correlations, a section giving well summaries of 34 wells, and an annotated bibliography of oil and gas exploration and possibilities in southwestern Virginia. OIL AND GAS WELLS, SOUTHWESTERN VIRGINIA BEFORE 1950 503 Wells known to have been drilled in southwestern Virginia before 1950 are listed in table 1 of this report. The table gives some information about each well and gives a reference to additional information or source of information. Detailed descriptions of samples from 27 wells in southwestern Virginia have been open-filed in offices of the U. S. Geological Survey 'in Washington, D. C., the Kentucky Geological Survey at Lexington, Ky., and the Virginia Geological Survey at Charlottesville, Va., all of which are available for inspection by the public. These descriptions include most of the wells for which we have been able to obtain samples. A few of the field wells have been omitted from the present report because the samples were incomplete or because they were not pertinent. Special effort was made to obtain samples from all the isolated exploratory wells, but the samples from some of these wells had been lost or were not available. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This report was made possible by the cooperation of the companies and indivuduals who permitted the authors to study the samples from their wells and to publish the results of the study. Samples were released for study by the following companies and individuals: The California Co., New Orleans, La.; Clinchfield Coal Co., Dante, Va.; Philip Jenkins, Paintsville, Ky.; Pipe Line Construction & Drilling Co., Pikeville, Ky.; Dr. Adam Stacy, Pineville, Ky.; United Fuel Gas Co., Charleston, W. Va.; United Producing Co., Charleston, W. Va.; and Virginia Coal & Iron Corp, Big Stone Gap, Va. We are indebted to the following individuals for help in locating samples and for providing us with stratigraphic data concerning the wells: Robert Effinger, E. D. Dobrick, Ralph Wilpolt, Byron Finch, Byron Maxwell, Robert Wolfe, Cramon Stanton, D. W. Marden, W. Rogers Moore, W. T. Harnsberger, and E. B. Wood. The Kentucky Geological Survey helped considerably by cutting many of the samples for us. B. N. Cooper, R. L. Miller, and R. H. Wilpolt served as guides on field conferences in southwestern Virginia. Helen Duncan and Jean Berdan determined fossils from several wells. Samples were examined by W. A. Heck, D. W. Marden, M. B. McFarlan, O. A. Sams, Jean Sherman, P. T. Stafford, R. H. Wilpolt, and the authors. EARLY HISTORY OF EXPLORATORY DRILLING IN SOUTHWESTERN VIRGINIA The history of exploration in southwest Virginia was summarized by Stanton (1949) and Cooper (1949). The present account draws heavily from their articles. The wells are listed in table 1 by county. 504 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY

Oil and gas wells drilled in southwestern Virginia before 1950