Oil & gas wells in Carter County, KY
277 catalogued wells in Carter County, Kentucky, from the state regulator registry and the federal orphaned-well inventory.
Dataset updated . Derived from public data sources.
At a glance
Carter County, Kentucky has 277 catalogued oil & gas wells: 75 active (27%), 151 plugged & abandoned (55%) and 14 documented orphans. It ranks 67th of the 90 Kentucky counties WellCensus profiles by well count and holds 0.1% of the state's 201,022 catalogued wells.
Catalogued wells
277
Active
75
Plugged
151
Documented orphans
14
What is the status of oil and gas wells in Carter County?
27% of Carter County's wells are active, close to the Kentucky share of 27%. 55% are plugged & abandoned, against 39% statewide and 47% nationally. 14 wells (5%) are documented orphans with no operator able to plug them, compared with 8% across Kentucky and 4% nationally. The remaining 37 carry status codes outside those classes, such as permitted or cancelled locations.
What kinds of wells are in Carter County?
By product class, 25 of the county's wells (9%) are oil wells, 71 (26%) gas wells and 0 (0%) injection wells. Statewide the oil share is 25% and the gas share 15%. The deepest total depth published for a Carter County well is 9,980 ft, against 16,108 ft for Kentucky as a whole. 94% of the county's wells carry coordinates and appear on the map.
How does Carter County compare with other Kentucky counties?
Carter County has the 67th-most catalogued wells of the 90 Kentucky counties with at least 25. The median Kentucky county on WellCensus has 941 wells. The largest, Ohio County, has 11,631. By documented orphans it ranks 62nd in Kentucky.
Who operates wells in Carter County?
79 distinct operators of record are linked to wells in Carter County. 96% of the county's wells carry a link to a canonical operator profile; the rest list no operator or a name not yet resolved. Each well's page names its operator where the state publishes one.
Wells in Carter County
🔒 Create a free account to export CSV| Well | API # / state ID | Status | Type | Operator |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Well API 16-043-00095 | 16-043-00095 | Plugged & abandoned | Other type | Unknown |
| Coleman, Oscar & Norbeth 1 | 16-043-00016 | Orphaned | Oil | Carter Development Co, Inc |
| Coleman, Oscar 6 | 16-043-00019 | Orphaned | Other type | Carter Development Co, Inc |
| Gollihue, Beecher 1 | 16-043-00026 | Other status | Other type | Gollihue, Beecher |
| Thomas, Albert P Heirs 1 | 16-043-00030 | Other status | Gas | Wolf Creek Oil & Gas Co |
| Carter Cave State Park 1 | 16-043-00107 | Other status | Other type | Unknown |
| Dean, Clyde 1 | 16-043-00020 | Orphaned | Other type | Carter Development Co, Inc |
| Armstrong, Myrtle 2 | 16-043-00023 | Orphaned | Other type | Principal Petroleum, Inc |
| Walgren, Herbert W 6 | 16-043-00085 | Plugged & abandoned | Other type | Gilbert, M P |
| Wilhoit, H R 1 | 16-043-00029 | Plugged & abandoned | Other type | Wines, Harry |
| Robinson, W E 1 | 16-043-00076 | Plugged & abandoned | Other type | Highland Energy Corp |
| Maddix, R S 1 | 16-043-00021 | Active | Gas | Carter Development Co, Inc |
| Coleman, Norbeth 7 | 16-043-00056 | Other status | Other type | Highland Energy Corp |
| Addington, Robert 1 | 16-043-00034 | Other status | Other type | Highland Energy Corp |
| Caudell, Wilbur 1 | 16-043-00024 | Active | Gas | Day & Mabry Oil Co |
| Stevens, Corb 1 | 16-043-00025 | Plugged & abandoned | Other type | Ware Drilling Co, Inc |
| Stamper, Lloyd L Et Al 8807t | 16-043-00040 | Plugged & abandoned | Other type | United Fuel Gas Co |
| Stapleton, Warnie 11-1 | 16-043-00080 | Plugged & abandoned | Other type | Thomas, Ralph N |
| Rowe, Brooks 1 | 16-043-00075 | Other status | Other type | Highland Energy Corp |
| Danner, Leroy 2 | 16-043-00058 | Other status | Other type | Highland Energy Corp |
| Coleman, E R 1 | 16-043-00032 | Active | Oil | Fyvie, W W |
| Coleman, Oscar 2 | 16-043-00057 | Plugged & abandoned | Other type | Highland Energy Corp |
| Coleman, Oscar 3 | 16-043-00017 | Plugged & abandoned | Oil | Carter Development Co, Inc |
| Simmons, Jim 1 | 16-043-00079 | Plugged & abandoned | Other type | Thomas, Ralph N |
| Crawford, J C 1 | 16-043-00102 | Plugged & abandoned | Other type | Van Everman Et Al |
A sample of the county’s wells — every catalogued well has its own page. Browse all 277 in search → (filter by operator, status and type, then export), or find a specific well on the live map.
Frequently asked questions
How many oil and gas wells are in Carter County, KY?
Carter County, Kentucky has 277 catalogued oil & gas wells: 75 active, 151 plugged and 14 documented orphans.
How many orphaned wells are in Carter County?
14 wells in Carter County, Kentucky are documented orphans — unplugged with no solvent operator of record, the 62nd-highest count among Kentucky counties.
What share of wells in Carter County are plugged?
151 of Carter County's 277 catalogued wells (55%) are plugged & abandoned, compared with 39% across Kentucky.
Which Kentucky county has the most oil and gas wells?
Ohio County has the most catalogued wells of any Kentucky county on WellCensus (11,631); Carter County ranks 67th with 277.
How many companies operate wells in Carter County?
79 distinct operators of record are linked to catalogued wells in Carter County, Kentucky.
Nearby in the Kentucky rankings
About this data
Source: Kentucky Geological Survey well registry, plus the USGS United States Documented Orphaned Well Database (2026, doi 10.5066/P13FHBYG), as published October 10, 2026 — WellCensus refreshes it monthly. See the methodology for how records are matched, cleaned and scored.
Cite as: WellCensus, “Oil & gas wells in Carter County, Kentucky”, https://wellcensus.com/wells/kentucky/carter (data as of October 10, 2026).