StateAge of containing rocksBaseProduction for 1919 (barrels)Total production including 1918 (barrels)
AlaskaEast-Low. TertiaryParaffin(a)(a)
West-Jurassic
CaliforniaCretaceous: TertiaryAshpalt97,531,9971,110,226,576
ColoradoPierre-CretaceousParaffin143,28611,319,370
IllinoisMississippian-PennsylvanianParaffin13,365,974298,225,380
IndianaEast-Ordovician (Trenton)Paraffin877,558106,105,584
West-Pennsylvanian
KansasPennsylvanianPar.-Asph.45,451,017148,450,298
Kentucky,MississippianParaffin4,376,34218,213,188
Tennessee
LouisianaCretaceous-Quat.Paraffin16,042,600150,769,911
Cretaceous-Eocene
Michigan,CarboniferousParaffin(a)(a)
Missouri
Montana69,323213,639
New MexicoCarboniferouos-Cretaceous(a)(a)
New York,Devonian-CarboniferousParaffin8,216,655788,202,717
Pennsylvania
Ohio, EastOrdovician-CarboniferousParaffin7,285,005463,367,386
and West
OklahomaPennsylvanianParaffin103,347,070851,320,457
TexasPennsylvanian, Cretaceous-Quat.Asph.-Par.38,750,031327,550,005
Utah(b)(b)
West VirginiaDevonian-Carboniferous7,866,628294,474,710
WyomingCarboniferous-CretaceousAsph.-Par.12,596,28740,019,573
Other7,943112,925
355,927,7164,608,571,719
(a) Included in "Other."(b)Included in Wyoming.

Fig. 7. Chart showing the present tendency of the United States in respect to its unmined reserve of petroleum. Data from U.S. Geological Survey. After Gilbert and Pogue.[ToList]

Methods of estimating reserves. It may be of interest to inquire into the basis on which predictions are made of the life of an oil pool. The process is essentially a matter of platting curves of production, and of projecting them into the future with the approximate slopes exhibited in districts which are already approaching exhaustion.[21] While no two wells or two districts act exactly alike, these curves have group characteristics which are used as a rough basis for interpreting the future.

Fig. 8. The annual output of the principal oil fields of the United States for the last twenty years. Data from U.S. Geological Survey.[ToList]