Kentucky can be divided into three parts - the eastern mountains, the interior, and the Mississippi plains in the west. These large areas can be divided into several physiographic regions. The eastern end of the state is known as the Eastern Coal Field. The Appalachian Mountains extend into the state here and the highest point in Kentucky, Big Black Mountain, 4,145 feet above sea level, is here in Harlan county. The western end of this region is known as the Cumberland Plateau which extends west to the Pottsville Escarpment and the eastern Knobs, which divide eastern Kentucky from the rolling hills of the Bluegrass.

The Bluegrass is ringed by the knobs on the east, south, and west and by the Ohio river on the north. The largest cities, including Louisville and Lexington, are located here. The Inner Bluegrass is centered around Lexington and is known for its rich soils, a result of the limestone which lies near the surface in many places and can be dramatically seen in the Palisades along the Kentucky river.

To the south and west of the Bluegrass is the Pennyrile (or Pennyroyal). It extends west to the Cumberland and Tennessee rivers (now Lake Barkley and Kentucky Lake) and includes a large karst area that includes Mammoth Cave. Surrounded by the Pennyrile and the Ohio river is the Western Coal Field, part of a large coal-bearing region that extends into Indiana and Illinois. West of the lakes is the Jackson Purchase, which is bordered by the Ohio and Mississippi rivers and consists mainly of flat, alluvial lands. The lowest point in Kentucky, in southwestern Fulton county, 250 feet above sea level, is here.

Kentucky Oil History

• 1815, Kentucky: Kentucky's first oil well is reported drilled approximately 2 miles south of Monticello in Wayne County. The well, drilled for salt water, was abandoned because oil was found in sufficient quantity to ruin it as a source of salt water. Click to view map of vicinity of this well. (Jillson, 1952)
• 1818, Kentucky: Martin Beatty, operator of an iron furnace near Abington, Virginia, acquired property and contracted with Marcus Huling and Andrew Zimmerman to drill a well for salt water at the confluence of (what is now) Oil Well Branch and the Big South Fork of the Cumberland River, McCreary County. In early December, the well came in with an initial flow estimated to be 100 barrels of oil per day. Beatty abandoned intentions of producing salt from the well, established a salt works 2 miles downstream at the mouth of Bear Creek, and later entered politics. Beatty, Huling, and Zimmermen hired two fishermen, Pierson Watson and John Spradling, to ferry the oil downstream in wooden barrels. Two attempts to navigate the narrows at Devil's Jump resulted in disaster and a near drowning. The oil was hauled overland by wagon to local merchants who sold it to the makers of British Oil, Seneca Oil, Mustard Liniment and other similar medicinal preparations with quantities being distributed in Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, North Carolina, and Georgia. The expense of hauling the oil soon led the venture to be abandoned. Beatty continued with salt-making. He moved the operation downstream, below the narrows, possibly near the vicinity of the present crossing of the Big South Fork near Yamacraw (Highway 92). (Jillson, 1952, United States Congress) Jillson's 1952 account of this well is available online
• 1820, Kentucky: The first oil well in Clinton County was drilled by Captain G. W. Hurt looking for brine. Although salt water was found, oil and gas rendered the well unfit for use and it was abandoned. (Jillson, 1946, Loughridge, 1890)
• 1836, Kentucky: Garnett Well on Crocus Creek north of Bakertown (Cumberland County) was struck in or about the year 1836 and flowed probably 2,000 barrels of oil. (Cumberland River Oil and Salt Company, 1865)
• 1838, Kentucky: W. W. Mather undertakes the first geological reconnaissance of Kentucky at the request of the Kentucky Legislature. Several oil and burning (natural gas) springs were noted. (Mather, 1988, reprint)
• 1838: Mr. Daniel Foster of Findlay, Ohio, inverted an iron salt-kettle over one of his unsuccessful water wells and conveyed gas from it by a wooden pipe to his house a few feet away, burning the gas as it issued in a small and steady flame from a perforated gun-barrel, which he had built into a fireplace. (Orton, 1891)
• 1840, Kentucky: An entrepreneur from Pittsburgh recalled stories of the well at Burkesville and traveled there to make suitable arrangement for bottling it. (Jillson, 1947) This could have been Kier or possibly Job Moses (1848). The 1840 date is uncertain.
• 1852, Kentucky: Oil and gas were discovered in borings made for coal 3 to 6 miles northwest of Estill Furnace in the valley of Hardwicks Creek, 10 miles northeast of Irvine, KY. Black shale is associated with coal in the Pennsylvanian of eastern Kentucky. It was thought the presence of black shale in this area might indicate coal that could become an abundant fuel for the area's iron furnaces. In one of the borings the upper portion of the auger was blown out into the air by gas, and the lower part of the auger was so bent in the boring as to stop the work. (Hoeing, 1905, Lesley, 1861, Shaw, 1917)
• 1861, Kentucky: The Matilda Gabbard Well in Clinton County was drilled to 225 feet and was credited with the discovery of Ordovician Granville production in the area of the Creelsboro, Desda, and Decide Pools, Clinton and Russell County. Described as a flowing well, no initial production is available. The Gabbard well was located across the Cumberland River from Creelsboro. (Diamond, 1943, Eyl, 1922, Hoeing, 1905, Loughridge, 1890)
• 1862, Kentucky: John Nicholson and Herman Veeder took over the property on which the Old American Well was located to make salt. To prevent the dilution of the natural brine by fresh surface waters, they made wooden groove and socket pipe (the Civil War blocked transportation of appropriate sized iron pipe). They successfully cased off the surface water and began producing salt which was sold to Confederate agents, barged to Nashville, and supplied to the troops of the Army of the Tennessee. (Jillson, 1947)
• 1865, Kentucky: The end of the Civil War marked a the start of a drilling boom in Kentucky. Those Union soldiers who were familiar with Drake's success and who had noted Kentucky's salt, oil, and natural gas springs and wells returned to the area to seek their fortune. During the summer and autumn of 1865, shallow gushers came in on Bear Creek (less than 50 feet), on the Cumberland River (less than 100 feet), on Crocus Creek (less than 200 feet). Any oil or feeble gas spring was regarded as an infallible guide to a new Oil Creek (Pennsylvania). (Orton, 1891) Having inspected the site of the Old American Well in the previous year, Dr. B. Franklin prepared a favorable report that led to the incorporation of the Cumberland River Oil and Salt Company of Kentucky (act approved by KY legislature January 23, 1865). While this venture found only "inconsequential" amounts of oil other local wells were more successful (Jillson, 1947). The prospectus issued by this company has survived and a copy of their map showing the Old American Well, other wells, and oil seeps in the area is available. The Wesley English No. 1 well was struck October 3, 1865 at 191 feet on Crocus Creek, Cumberland County. Reported by the Union Standard of Lexington, the well was estimated to be flowing as high as 3,000 barrels per day. Again the Cumberland River was covered with oil from Crocus Creek to Burkesville and far below. ( Hoeing, 1905, Jillson, 1951)
• 1865, Kentucky: Discovery of the Adams field in Barren County along Boyds Creek. The Boyd's Creek Oil Company no. 1 W.S. "Steve" Kinslow was the first well in the county. Drilled on Boyd's Creek 4 miles south of Glasgow the well was completed June 20, 1865 at a depth of 150 feet. Initially, the well came in flowing 2 barrels every half-hour and after "agitation" increased to 160 barrels per day; drill cuttings had apparently not been removed from the hole and the tools were still hanging. The well produced about 125,000 barrels before it was abandoned in 1920. (Shaw and Mather, 1919)
• 1865, Kentucky: Gas discovered in a well in Webster County, western Kentucky, at depths between 450 and 536 feet. (Orton, 1891) Long Falls Creek pool, about 2 miles north of Calhoun, McLean County on Beech Grove Road was the first oil discovered in western Kentucky. (Bushong, 1970, Eyl, 1922)
• 1884, Kentucky: The oil boom in south central Kentucky attracts national attention with Oil Regions of Kentucky and Tennessee, a map by Peckham and others that was included with the Tenth Census Reports of the United States. (Jillson, 1951)
• 1892, Kentucky: Chapter 100, an act of May 14, 1892, entitled Petroleum, Natural Gas, and Salt-water wells was adopted. Provisions of the act required wells not in use to be plugged to prevent waste. It required filling a well with rock and stone and driving wooden plugs at least 20 feet above producing zone and another to a point at least 5 feet below the casing seat after casing was pulled. Enforcement of this act was left up to the individual County's Attorney and was largely ignored. (Hoeing, 1913)
• 1895, Kentucky: The Beaver Creek Sand was discovered in Wayne County, southeast Kentucky. This strike led the Cumberland Pipe Line Company to lay a pipe line to these wells from Somerset. With a market for the oil, drilling was rapid, a large portion of the Cooper-Oil Valley district being developed within the three years following. (Munn, 1914)
• 1895: When sperm oil (whale oil) dropped to 40 cents a gallon in 1895, due to lack of demand, refined petroleum, which was very much in demand, sold for less than 7 cents a gallon. (Chemical Institute of Canada, 1999)
• 1898, Kentucky: Captain Geary supervised the construction of a crude oil pipeline from Monticello, Kentucky to Somerset, Kentucky and then on to Hamlin, West Virginia (Acrea, 2000)
• 1899, Kentucky: The "Ragland" sand was discovered in Bath and Rowan County. Statewide production increased from an average of about 4,755 barrels per year to 18,280 barrels with this discovery. (Jillson, 1926)
• 1903, Kentucky: A small amount of oil production was first secured by rank wild catters near Irvine in Estill County. The extreme shallowness of the oil horizon or 'pay' here, however, caused this small Corniferous pool to be soon drilled up and exhausted.
• 1905, Kentucky: Discovery of the Furnace Field, Estill County. Oil and gas production in this area was first noted in 1852, but was not exploited.
• 1919, Kentucky: The Ross Creek pool was the most active pool in eastern Kentucky.
• Wooden "cable-tool" drilling rigs powered by steam engines were common in early drilling in Ohio County.
• Big Sinking is one of Kentucky's largest oil fields.
• 1942:  The Kentucky General Assembly ratified the Interstate Oil Compact.
• 1948: The permitting of oil and gas wells began, but only those wells drilled in coal producing areas.
• 1960:  The Division of Oil and Gas (DOG) was created by the General Assembly and charged with the duties of fostering conservation of all mineral resources, encouraging exploration of such resources, protecting the correlative rights of land and mineral owners, prohibiting waste and unnecessary surface loss and damage, and encouraging the maximum recovery of oil and gas from all deposits. DOG began permitting all oil- and gas-related wells at that time.
• 1961:  Regulation of plugging and abandonment procedures began, including regulations for wells drilled through both non-coal-bearing strata and coal-bearing strata.
• 1966:  Bonding requirements and penalty provisions were established. 
• 1978:  Groundwater protection regulations began through an administrative regulation for protection of freshwater zones.
• 1990:  Bonding requirements and penalty provisions were increased.
• 2004:  Regulation of gathering lines became effective, requiring well operators to permit gas gathering lines and oil production flowlines, along with the filing of annual gathering line licenses.
• 2004:  DOG became the Division of Oil and Gas Conservation (DOGC)

Oil and gas are produced from more than 1,500 pools in Kentucky from rocks of Cambrian to Pennsylvanian age. Most oil is produced from Mississippian limestone and sandstone in eastern and western Kentucky or from Ordovician limestone and dolomites in southern Kentucky. Most natural gas is produced from the Devonian black shale in eastern Kentucky.