For many years, West Virginia was the largest producer of natural gas east of the Mississippi River. In recent years, it has still produced significant amounts of natural gas in the Appalachian Basin. Reported production in 2001 was 191 Bcf (billion cubic feet) of natural gas and 1.607 million bbl (barrels) of oil. We have seen published illustrations of drilling and production activity in the Burning Springs area of Wirt County from the late 1850s.

Annual coal production in West Virginia for 2002 was 163.3 million short tons. See Summary Coal Production, by Year (262 KB) for data available since 1985. In 2002,, 163,347,203 tons of coal were mined in West Virginia. West Virginia coal is used nationally and internationally. In 1997, 38,450,000 tons were exported to foreign ports, representing about 46 percent of the total coal exports from the United States. Much of the exported coal from West Virginia is used for steel manufacturing.

A total of 89,749,562 megawatt hours of electricity were generated in West Virginia in 2004 (the latest data available) and only 28,919,000 megawatt hours (32% of total electricity produced) were consumed in West Virginia (www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/electricity/st_profiles/west_virginia.html, www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/states/sep_fuel/html/fuel_use_es.html).

In the mid-1980s, some oil was produced from the Balltown sand of Upper Devonian age at a depth of approximately 2,900 to 3,200 feet in the Belington field in southern Barbour County. Some oil was produced from Devonian shales in northwestern West Virginia around the same time. A few wells produced oil from the Devonian Oriskany Sandstone at depths between 4,800 and 5,100 feet, and three wells produced oil from the Silurian Newburg sand at a depth of 5,500 to 5,800 feet.

Check our county-based oil and gas reports (see the list of publications), The Atlas of Major Appalachian Gas Plays (1996, Survey publication V-25), recent drilling activity tables, or contact our Oil and Gas Section geologists for more information.

Vault's production portfolio is weighted 65% natural gas and 35% light oil. Vault's current reserve base is more balanced: 50% natural gas and 50% light oil.

No, and geologically there is no reason to expect one to appear. There is evidence, however, of multiple ash falls from ancient volcanoes preserved in rocks of Cambrian, Ordovician, and Devonian age in outcrops in eastern West Virginia and in the subsurface in the western part of the State, and in a flint clay in the Hernshaw coal bed of Middle Pennsylvanian age (Kanawha Formation) in southern West Virginia.

Only a limited variety of gemstones are found in West Virginia, because the types of rocks found in the State are not those associated with the formation of most gemstones. Most natural gems are hard minerals formed from the crystallization of gases and fluids in the earth and are found with either igneous rocks (solidified molten material) or metamorphic rocks (changed by heat, pressure, or chemical reaction).

Individuals may contact the Division of Oil and Gas at (614) 265-6922 or the Division of Geological Survey at (614) 265-6576 to obtain information regarding any past or current drilling/production on or near their property or within their county. More detailed information would have to be obtained from professional consultants and individuals experienced in developing oil/gas resources in the private sector.

Contact the Division of Oil and Gas at (614) 265-6922 and request the RBDMS database. It requires a minimum of Windows 95, is driven by MS-ACCESS software and is available on CD-ROM for $15.00. It can be updated over the Internet.

A trick question? The answer could be June 20, 1863, the day West Virginia attained statehood. Actually, there are written references to coal being mined in the Kanawha Valley in the 1700s. For additional information, refer to A Look at the History of Resource Development: Coal.

The deepest well was drilled in 1974 by Exxon USA in Calhoun County, to a depth of 20,222 feet, bottoming in the Precambrian basement. The well, permit number 2503, was dry with a gas show in the Big Lime and oil shows in the Upper Devonian shale and the Marcellus shale.

There are no granite bodies exposed in West Virginia. Workers from the Survey have identified a number of "shallow," intrusive igneous dikes, sills, and plugs with compositions ranging from basalt to andesite that cut across sedimentary rocks of Ordovician through Devonian age. These rocks are exposed at the surface in Pendleton County and are reported in subsurface well drilling records from other counties such as Pocahontas. These dikes, sills, and plugs are younger than the rocks they cut.

Outcrops of four metamorphic formations occur along the eastern boundary of Jefferson County in the eastern panhandle. The Precambrian metaigneous Catoctin greenstone consists of metamorphosed basalt lava flows. Three Lower Cambrian metasedimentary formations include (from older to younger) the Weverton quartzite (a metamorphosed sandstone), Harpers phyllite (a metamorphosed shale), and Antietam quartzite (a metamorphosed sandstone).

According to the U.S. Department of Energy's Energy Information Administration web page at http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/coal/statepro/imagemap/wv2p1.shtmll, approximately 97?% of the coal recovered in WV was used for the generation of electricity in 1999.

In 2001, Australia produced 528.1 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent -- this was mainly carbon dioxide (69.9%) as well as methane (22.9%), nitrous oxide (6.3%) and other gases. Of Australia's total net emissions in 2001, the production of energy accounted for 68.0%, 19.5% came from agriculture, emissions from industrial processes contributed 4.6%, and waste emissions contributed 3.1%.

In 2005, there were 18.2 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) of dry natural gas produced in the U.S. The top producing states are:

Addax Petroleum has increased its crude oil production from an average of 8,800 barrels per day for 1998 to an average of approximately 90,050 barrels per day for 2006, representing an increase of 38% over average daily production levels in 2005. For additional information on the Corporation’s 2006 production please refer to our January 18, 2007 press release.

Elsewhere on our Web site, you can check the list of publications for our county-based oil and gas reports, summary data and drilling statistics, counts of available well data, or counties at a glance. Or, contact our Oil and Gas Section geologists. Several public and academic libraries in West Virginia maintain some of our publications in their collections; check with your library for availability.

The third-largest diamond ever found in the United States, the "Punch" Jones Diamond, was found near Peterstown, in Monroe County, within one-half mile of the Virginia state line. It has been suggested that the diamond actually occurred in rocks in Virginia and that erosion carried it to the West Virginia side of the state line. There are no other likely sites for diamonds in this State. No other precious gems are known to have been found in West Virginia.