Oil & gas by state
Oklahoma
Sixth in oil, sixth in gas, third in rigs, and home to Cushing, where America's benchmark crude is delivered.
Live, updated weekly
At the pump this week
Regular gasoline · Midwest (PADD 2) average
$4.15
Diesel · Midwest (PADD 2) average
$6.26
Midwest (PADD 2) average. EIA doesn't publish an Oklahoma average. Week of Oct 12, 2026.4
By the numbers
Sixth in oil, sixth in gas
Oklahoma averaged 404,000 barrels of crude a day in 2025 and produced 2.88 trillion cubic feet of gas. Both rank sixth among the states. In July 2026 crude was 391,000 barrels a day, still sixth.
Worth knowing
Six things about Oklahoma oil
Cushing sets the price
The NYMEX Light Sweet Crude (WTI) futures contract settles by physical delivery at Cushing, Oklahoma. That makes the tank farms there the pricing point for American oil.5
Oil came before statehood
The Nellie Johnstone No. 1 at Bartlesville, Indian Territory, was completed on April 15, 1897, at 1,320 feet. It was capped until the railroad arrived in 1899, and made more than 100,000 barrels before it was plugged in 1948.6
Glenn Pool made it No. 1
The Ida E. Glenn No. 1 was completed on November 22, 1905, south of Tulsa. The field made 43.52 million barrels in 1907, which put Oklahoma at the top of the national rankings until 1928.7
A well at the Capitol
The Oklahoma City field opened on December 4, 1928, and had produced 409 million barrels by 1935. Capitol Site No. 1 was brought in on the Capitol's south plaza in 1941 by directional drilling.8
Regulated since 1914
The Corporation Commission was created in 1907 by the state constitution. In 1914 it started restricting drilling in the Cushing and Healdton fields, when production outran pipeline capacity.9
History
Older than the state
Oklahoma's oil history is older than the state. In 1897 a crew near Bartlesville, in what was still Indian Territory, finished the Nellie Johnstone No. 1 at about 1,300 feet. It hit oil, but there was no way to get oil to market, so they capped it until the railroad showed up two years later. That well made more than 100,000 barrels before it was plugged in 1948.6
The real rush started in 1905 with the Ida Glenn No. 1, south of Tulsa. Glenn Pool spread to thousands of acres. By 1907, the year Oklahoma became a state, that one field was making more than 40 million barrels a year. The pipelines and tank farms built to move that oil grew up around a small town called Cushing. The young state's Corporation Commission stepped in early: in 1914 it started limiting drilling at Cushing and Healdton because the wells were outrunning the pipelines.
In 1928 the Oklahoma City field came in, and it ran right under the city. Derricks went up in neighborhoods, and eventually on the Capitol grounds themselves. The well on the south plaza, drilled at an angle in 1941, is still a landmark people stop to look at.
The price of American oil quoted every day is settled at tanks in Cushing.
The second half of the century was about going deeper and smarter. The Anadarko Basin in western Oklahoma became one of the country's big gas provinces. Horizontal drilling in the Woodford Shale and plays like SCOOP, STACK and the Granite Wash brought a new wave. Meanwhile Cushing became the delivery point for the WTI crude futures contract.
Today Oklahoma ranks sixth among states in both crude and natural gas, and with 50 rigs working it's the third-busiest state for drilling. It's also where Wade lives, and a lot of the Local Energy crew's stories come out of Okies who grew up in the patch.
On the show
Oklahoma episodes
On the record
“You would be hard pressed to find someone in Cushing whose family member doesn't work out here.”
In January 2025, in the inaugural address
“The golden age of America begins right now.”
He was talking about the country as a whole, not Oklahoma in particular.
FAQ
Questions people ask
- How much oil does Oklahoma produce?
- About 404,000 barrels a day in 2025, or 147.5 million barrels for the year, per EIA. July 2026 averaged 391,000 barrels a day.
- Where does Oklahoma rank in oil and gas?
- Sixth among states for crude oil and sixth for marketed natural gas in 2025 (EIA). It held sixth in both in July 2026.
- How many drilling rigs are active in Oklahoma?
- 50, in Baker Hughes' count for the week ending Oct 16, 2026. That's down one on the week, up from 42 a year earlier, and third behind Texas and New Mexico.
- Why is Cushing, Oklahoma important?
- Cushing is the delivery point for NYMEX WTI crude oil futures. The barrels behind the most widely quoted U.S. oil price are settled at storage tanks there.
- Who regulates oil and gas in Oklahoma?
- The Oklahoma Corporation Commission, through its Oil and Gas Conservation Division. It was created in 1907 and has regulated oil and gas since 1914.
Other states
Where the numbers come from
- EIA, Crude oil production by state, annual and monthly, thousand barrels a day and thousand barrels. Released Sep 30, 2026. Ranks are among the 50 states, excluding federal offshore; the 2020 to 2025 change is computed. eia.gov ↩
- Baker Hughes, North America Rotary Rig Count, week ending Oct 16, 2026 (42 a year earlier; Texas 278, New Mexico 96). bakerhughes.com ↩
- EIA, Natural gas marketed production by state, 2024, 2025 and July 2026 (2025: 2,877,738 MMcf). Released Sep 30, 2026. The U.S. share is computed. eia.gov ↩
- EIA, Gasoline and Diesel Fuel Update, weekly retail prices: Midwest (PADD 2) regular gasoline, all formulations (EMM_EPMR_PTE_R20_DPG), and Midwest (PADD 2) No. 2 diesel (EMD_EPD2D_PTE_R20_DPG). EIA doesn't survey Oklahoma on its own. Read from EIA's API when the page loads. eia.gov ↩
- CME Group, NYMEX Rulebook Chapter 200: Light Sweet Crude Oil Futures; Why Cushing Matters. cmegroup.com · cmegroup.com ↩
- Oklahoma Historical Society, Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture: Nellie Johnstone Number One; National Park Service, National Register nomination. okhistory.org · nps.gov ↩
- Oklahoma Historical Society, Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture: Glenn Pool Field. okhistory.org ↩
- Oklahoma Historical Society, Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture: Oklahoma City Field. okhistory.org ↩
- Oklahoma Corporation Commission, History. oklahoma.gov ↩
- Inaugural Address, Compilation of Presidential Documents, DCPD-202500103, Jan 20, 2025. govinfo.gov ↩