Anahuac Oil and Gas Field

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Now, Chambers County had already been in the oil game for a while, since 1916 to be exact, when major production first got going out here. But what happened on March 3, 1935, that was something different.

That was the day the Anahuac field announced itself to the world. Humble Oil and Refining Company brought in a well called the A. D.

Middleton No. 1, about a mile and eight tenths southeast of where you're standing right now. That was the discovery well, and at first it came in with a potential of 144 barrels a day, pulling up from a depth of 7,050 feet. Now, 144 barrels a day is nothing to sneeze at.

But the story wasn't done yet. They deepened that well, just a little further, down to 7,088 feet, and on March 14, 1935, they recompleted it. The new potential: 518 barrels.

Eleven days, a few dozen feet, and the whole picture changed. Right near this very spot, Humble set up a camp to house the crews who developed the field, the workers who turned a discovery into something enormous. And enormous is not too strong a word.

The Anahuac field stretches across some 14,000 acres of prime rice and grazing land. It produces from 21 separate zones inside a highly faulted domal structure, with producing depths ranging from 6,600 feet all the way down to 8,600 feet. Now, every field has its moment of glory, and this one's came during World War II.

In 1944, the annual total hit 11,916,137 barrels. Say that number slowly sometime. Nearly twelve million barrels in a single year, pulled out of the Texas coastal plain while the world was at war and needed every drop.

Through 1966, that original discovery well, the A. D. Middleton No. 1, had produced in excess of 390,000 barrels all on its own.

And the field as a whole, by that same point, had yielded over 177 million barrels of oil and 268 billion cubic feet of gas. Put that in the broader picture of Chambers County, a place the marker calls a pioneer oil producing area, and you're looking at over 475 million barrels of oil produced since 1916. At the time this story was recorded, 408 wells were working the Anahuac field, and the expectation was that production would carry right on into the 21st century.

Some fields burn bright and fade. This one just kept on going. This marker was erected by the Chambers County Historical Survey Committee, with Guy C.

Jackson III serving as chairman.

What the marker says

Although oil production of major value began in Chambers County in 1916, this prolific Anahuac field was discovered on March 3, 1935, with completion of Humble Oil & Refining Company's A. D. Middleton No. 1 (1.8 mi. SE). The camp which housed Humble crews who developed the field was adjacent to this site. The field encompasses some 14,000 acres of prime rice and grazing land and produces from 21 zones in a highly faulted domal structure. Producing depths range from 6,600 feet to 8,600 feet. Peak production was reached in world War II, when in 1944 annual total was 11,916,137 barrels. discovery well had an original potential of 144 barrels a day from depth of 7,050 feet. It was deepened to 7,088 feet and recompleted March 14, 1935, with a new potential of 518 barrels. Through 1966, A. D. Middleton No. 1 has produced in excess of 390,000 barrels of oil. Over 177 million barrels of oil and 268 billion cubic feet of gas have been produced from the field. (In Chambers County, a pioneer oil producing area, over 475 million barrels of oil have been produced since 1916.) At present, there are 408 wells in the Anahuac field, and it is expected that production will continue into the 21st century. Incise in Base: Erected by Chambers County Historical Survey Committee, Guy C. Jackson III, Chairman