Oil & gas wells in Ritchie County, WV
10,708 catalogued wells in Ritchie County, West Virginia, from the state regulator registry and the federal orphaned-well inventory.
Dataset updated . Derived from public data sources.
At a glance
Ritchie County, West Virginia has 10,708 catalogued oil & gas wells: 5,768 active (54%), 1,551 plugged & abandoned (14%) and 1,473 documented orphans. It ranks 1st of the 50 West Virginia counties WellCensus profiles by well count and holds 9% of the state's 118,569 catalogued wells.
Catalogued wells
10,708
Active
5,768
Plugged
1,551
Documented orphans
1,473
What is the status of oil and gas wells in Ritchie County?
54% of Ritchie County's wells are active, 3 percentage points above the West Virginia share of 51%. 14% are plugged & abandoned, against 22% statewide and 47% nationally. 1,473 wells (14%) are documented orphans with no operator able to plug them, compared with 12% across West Virginia and 4% nationally. The remaining 1,916 carry status codes outside those classes, such as permitted or cancelled locations.
What kinds of wells are in Ritchie County?
By product class, 592 of the county's wells (6%) are oil wells, 5,742 (54%) gas wells and 13 (0.1%) injection wells. Statewide the oil share is 4% and the gas share 55%. 99% of the county's wells carry coordinates and appear on the map.
How does Ritchie County compare with other West Virginia counties?
Ritchie County has the most catalogued wells of the 50 West Virginia counties with at least 25. The median West Virginia county on WellCensus has 2,037 wells. By documented orphans it ranks 1st in West Virginia.
Who operates wells in Ritchie County?
435 distinct operators of record are linked to wells in Ritchie County. 100% 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 Ritchie County
🔒 Create a free account to export CSV| Well | API # / state ID | Status | Type | Operator |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Haught, Caroline 3 | 47-085-00004 | Orphaned | Other type | Operator Unknown |
| Valentine, M. 1 | 47-085-00012 | Orphaned | Other type | Operator Unknown |
| MITCHELL, T. A.J. Glass 1 | 47-085-00018 | Orphaned | Other type | Operator Unknown |
| Freed, C.C. 4984 | 47-085-00019 | Orphaned | Other type | Operator Unknown |
| Ferrell, E. 10186 | 47-085-00025 | Orphaned | Other type | Operator Unknown |
| Coffield, J.A. 1 | 47-085-00026 | Orphaned | Other type | Operator Unknown |
| Weekley, Augustus & Bruce 1 | 47-085-00027 | Orphaned | Other type | Operator Unknown |
| School Board 1 | 47-085-00030 | Orphaned | Other type | Operator Unknown |
| Frederick, J. 10186 | 47-085-00031 | Orphaned | Other type | Operator Unknown |
| Nash, M. 4 | 47-085-00032 | Orphaned | Other type | Operator Unknown |
| Johnson, T. N. 1 | 47-085-00036 | Orphaned | Other type | Operator Unknown |
| Wilson, Hooker 2-72 | 47-085-00040 | Orphaned | Other type | Operator Unknown |
| Ayers, Ina 1 | 47-085-00046 | Orphaned | Other type | Operator Unknown |
| Farley, Mary 1 | 47-085-00050 | Orphaned | Other type | Operator Unknown |
| Rutherford, S.T. 1 | 47-085-00053 | Orphaned | Other type | Operator Unknown |
| Newlon, J.L. 1 | 47-085-00055 | Orphaned | Other type | Operator Unknown |
| Mcginnis, P.M. 1 | 47-085-00056 | Orphaned | Other type | Operator Unknown |
| Sandy, G.F. 1 | 47-085-00058 | Orphaned | Other type | Operator Unknown |
| Osbourn, M. R. - Heirs 1 | 47-085-00061 | Orphaned | Other type | Operator Unknown |
| Lemon Heirs 2 | 47-085-00067 | Orphaned | Other type | Operator Unknown |
| Carpenter, Albert 2 | 47-085-00069 | Orphaned | Other type | Operator Unknown |
| Daubenspeck, A.F., Et Ux 1 | 47-085-00073 | Orphaned | Other type | Operator Unknown |
| Grimm, J.W. 1 | 47-085-00074 | Orphaned | Other type | Operator Unknown |
| Mcfadden & Parks, P.C. 3 | 47-085-00076 | Orphaned | Other type | Operator Unknown |
| Law Orchard Co. 1 | 47-085-00078 | Orphaned | Other type | Operator Unknown |
A sample of the county’s wells — every catalogued well has its own page. Browse all 10,708 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 Ritchie County, WV?
Ritchie County, West Virginia has 10,708 catalogued oil & gas wells: 5,768 active, 1,551 plugged and 1,473 documented orphans.
How many orphaned wells are in Ritchie County?
1,473 wells in Ritchie County, West Virginia are documented orphans — unplugged with no solvent operator of record, the 1st-highest count among West Virginia counties.
What share of wells in Ritchie County are plugged?
1,551 of Ritchie County's 10,708 catalogued wells (14%) are plugged & abandoned, compared with 22% across West Virginia.
Which West Virginia county has the most oil and gas wells?
Ritchie County has the most catalogued wells of any West Virginia county on WellCensus, with 10,708.
How many companies operate wells in Ritchie County?
435 distinct operators of record are linked to catalogued wells in Ritchie County, West Virginia.
Nearby in the West Virginia rankings
About this data
Source: West Virginia DEP Office of Oil & Gas 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 Ritchie County, West Virginia”, https://wellcensus.com/wells/west-virginia/ritchie (data as of October 10, 2026).