WVGES Oil and Gas Well Data

Queries West Virginia oil and gas well records from the WVDEP (West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection) Office of Oil and Gas ArcGIS REST MapServer. The database contains 153,000+ wells in the RBDMS (Risk Based Data Management System) plus 54,000+ legacy WVGES wells, with records dating back to the 1860s.

Credential

None required. The WVDEP ArcGIS REST service is publicly accessible with no API key or authentication.

Data Source

Primary endpoint:

https://tagis.dep.wv.gov/arcgis/rest/services/WVDEP_enterprise/oil_gas/MapServer

Web application: https://tagis.dep.wv.gov/oog/

WVGES Pipeline (individual well lookup): https://www.wvgs.wvnet.edu/pipe2/

Source database: RBDMS, adopted by WVDEP Office of Oil and Gas in August 2016. ArcGIS Server version 11.5.

Layer Summary

ID	Layer Name	Records	Geometry	Use
0	Horizontal Only	9,406	Point	Horizontal and 6A wells
1	Active Status Only	66,217	Point	Currently active wells
2	Other than Active	37,638	Point	Non-active wells
3	Coal Bed Methane	2,336	Point	CBM wells
4	Plugged	49,412	Point	Plugged wells
5	Not in WVDEP Database	54,887	Point	Legacy WVGES wells
6	Horizontal Laterals	5,444	Polyline	Lateral paths with endpoints
7	All DEP Wells	153,267	Point	Primary query layer
8	Brine Disposal	396	Point	Brine disposal wells
10	Well Pads	1,023	Polygon	Well pad boundaries

Layer 7 (All DEP Wells) is the primary query target — it contains the full RBDMS dataset with no display scale restrictions. Layers 0-4 and 8 are filtered subsets. Layer 5 is a separate dataset of legacy WVGES wells not yet in RBDMS.

API Structure

Query URL pattern:

POST https://tagis.dep.wv.gov/arcgis/rest/services/WVDEP_enterprise/oil_gas/MapServer/{layerId}/query

Key parameters:

Parameter	Required	Description	Example
where	Yes	SQL WHERE clause	`county='049'`
outFields	No	Comma-separated fields	`permitid,api,wellstatus` or `*`
f	Yes	Response format	`json` or `geoJSON`
resultRecordCount	No	Max records (server limit: 3000)	`100`
resultOffset	No	Pagination offset	`3000`
returnGeometry	No	Include coordinates (default: true)	`false`
returnCountOnly	No	Return count only	`true`
geometry	No	Spatial filter geometry	`-80.2,39.5,-79.8,39.8`
geometryType	No	Geometry type	`esriGeometryEnvelope`
inSR	No	Input spatial reference	`4326` (WGS84 lat/lon)
outSR	No	Output spatial reference	`4326`
spatialRel	No	Spatial relationship	`esriSpatialRelIntersects`
groupByFieldsForStatistics	No	GROUP BY field	`county`
outStatistics	No	Aggregation JSON	See examples below

Server limit: 3,000 records per request. Use resultOffset for pagination. Check exceededTransferLimit in the response to know if more records exist.

Working curl Examples

Count all wells:

curl -sk "https://tagis.dep.wv.gov/arcgis/rest/services/WVDEP_enterprise/oil_gas/MapServer/7/query" \
  --data-urlencode "where=1=1" \
  --data-urlencode "returnCountOnly=true" \
  --data-urlencode "f=json"

Query active Marcellus wells:

curl -sk "https://tagis.dep.wv.gov/arcgis/rest/services/WVDEP_enterprise/oil_gas/MapServer/7/query" \
  --data-urlencode "where=marcellus='y' AND wellstatus='Active Well'" \
  --data-urlencode "outFields=permitid,api,county,welltype,welluse,respparty,formation,issuedate" \
  --data-urlencode "returnGeometry=false" \
  --data-urlencode "resultRecordCount=20" \
  --data-urlencode "f=json"

Query wells in a county:

curl -sk "https://tagis.dep.wv.gov/arcgis/rest/services/WVDEP_enterprise/oil_gas/MapServer/7/query" \
  --data-urlencode "where=county='049'" \
  --data-urlencode "outFields=permitid,api,welltype,wellstatus,welluse,formation,respparty" \
  --data-urlencode "returnGeometry=false" \
  --data-urlencode "resultRecordCount=50" \
  --data-urlencode "f=json"

Spatial query (bounding box with WGS84 lat/lon):

curl -sk "https://tagis.dep.wv.gov/arcgis/rest/services/WVDEP_enterprise/oil_gas/MapServer/7/query" \
  --data-urlencode "geometry=-80.2,39.5,-79.8,39.8" \
  --data-urlencode "geometryType=esriGeometryEnvelope" \
  --data-urlencode "inSR=4326" \
  --data-urlencode "spatialRel=esriSpatialRelIntersects" \
  --data-urlencode "outFields=permitid,api,county,wellstatus,formation" \
  --data-urlencode "resultRecordCount=100" \
  --data-urlencode "f=json"

Aggregate wells by county:

curl -sk "https://tagis.dep.wv.gov/arcgis/rest/services/WVDEP_enterprise/oil_gas/MapServer/7/query" \
  --data-urlencode "where=1=1" \
  --data-urlencode "groupByFieldsForStatistics=county" \
  --data-urlencode 'outStatistics=[{"statisticType":"count","onStatisticField":"objectid","outStatisticFieldName":"cnt"}]' \
  --data-urlencode "orderByFields=cnt DESC" \
  --data-urlencode "f=json"

Wells by operator (partial match):

curl -sk "https://tagis.dep.wv.gov/arcgis/rest/services/WVDEP_enterprise/oil_gas/MapServer/7/query" \
  --data-urlencode "where=respparty LIKE '%EQT%' AND wellstatus='Active Well'" \
  --data-urlencode "outFields=permitid,api,county,welltype,formation,issuedate" \
  --data-urlencode "returnGeometry=false" \
  --data-urlencode "resultRecordCount=20" \
  --data-urlencode "f=json"

Brine disposal wells (relevant for produced water research):

curl -sk "https://tagis.dep.wv.gov/arcgis/rest/services/WVDEP_enterprise/oil_gas/MapServer/8/query" \
  --data-urlencode "where=1=1" \
  --data-urlencode "outFields=*" \
  --data-urlencode "returnGeometry=false" \
  --data-urlencode "f=json"

Key Fields (Layer 7)

Field	Type	Description	Example Values
permitid	String	County-permit code	"049-01310"
api	String	API well number (47=WV)	"4704901310"
county	String	3-digit FIPS county code	"049" (Marshall)
welltype	String	Well orientation	Vertical, Horizontal, Horizontal 6A, Coal Bed Methane Well
welluse	String	Well purpose	Gas Production, Oil Production, Brine Disposal, Storage
welldepth	String	Depth category (text)	"Shallow less than 3,000 feet", "Deep"
permittype	String	Permit action type	Vertical Well, Horizontal Well, Plugging, Re-Work
issuedate	String	Permit issue date	"2020/01/15" (YYYY/MM/DD format)
compdate	String	Completion date	"2020/06/30" or "None"
respparty	String	Operator name	"EQT PRODUCTION COMPANY"
wellstatus	String	Current status	Active Well, Plugged, Abandoned Well, Shutin
farmname	String	Farm/lease name	"SMITH, JOHN"
wellnumber	String	Well number on lease	"1A"
formation	String	Target formation(s)	"Marcellus Shale", "NA", "Berea Sandstone,Gordon"
marcellus	String	Marcellus flag	"y"=yes, "n"=no, "u"=unknown
wellx	Double	UTM Easting (NAD83 Zone 17N)	457059.1
welly	Double	UTM Northing (NAD83 Zone 17N)	4229604.4

See references/arcgis_rest.md for full field definitions, layer-specific fields, enumerated values, and county FIPS code mapping.

Key Enumerated Values

wellstatus

Value	Count	Description
Active Well	66,217	Currently producing or operating
Plugged	49,412	Permanently sealed
Abandoned Well	17,899	Abandoned, not plugged
Never Drilled	15,823	Permitted but never spud
Shutin	1,467	Temporarily shut in
Never Issued	1,185	Permit application not issued
Permit Issued	946	Permitted, not yet drilled
Permit Application	138	Application in progress
Future Use	119	Designated for future use
Duplicate API	59	Duplicate record
Under Construction	2	Currently being drilled

welltype

Value	Count
Vertical	140,983
Horizontal 6A	6,832
Horizontal	2,574
Coal Bed Methane Well	2,336
Not Available	542

Top Formations (where formation is not "NA")

Formation	Count
Marcellus Shale	7,378
Big Injun (Undifferentiated)	1,049
Berea Sandstone	1,048
Gordon	1,026
Lower Huron	728
Fifth	572
Devonian Shale	370
Point Pleasant	279
Oriskany	279
Utica	25

Workflow

Step 1 — Resolve Intent

Map the user's question to query parameters:

User Request	WHERE Clause	Layer
"Marcellus wells in WV"	`marcellus='y'`	7
"Wells in Marshall County"	`county='049'`	7
"Active horizontal wells"	`wellstatus='Active Well' AND welltype IN ('Horizontal','Horizontal 6A')`	7
"EQT wells"	`respparty LIKE '%EQT%'`	7
"Brine disposal wells"	`welluse='Brine Disposal'`	7 or 8
"Wells near Morgantown"	Spatial query with bbox around 39.63,-79.96	7
"How many wells per county?"	Statistics query grouping by `county`	7
"Utica/Point Pleasant wells"	`formation LIKE '%Point Pleasant%' OR formation LIKE '%Utica%'`	7
"Wells permitted since 2020"	`issuedate >= '2020/01/01'`	7

For county lookups, convert county names to 3-digit FIPS codes using the reference table in references/arcgis_rest.md.

Step 2 — Fetch Count

Always check the total count first to inform the user and decide on pagination:

curl -sk "https://tagis.dep.wv.gov/arcgis/rest/services/WVDEP_enterprise/oil_gas/MapServer/7/query" \
  --data-urlencode "where=<WHERE_CLAUSE>" \
  --data-urlencode "returnCountOnly=true" \
  --data-urlencode "f=json"

If count exceeds 3,000, inform the user and either:

Paginate using resultOffset (for full extraction)
Add filters to narrow the result set
Use statistics queries for aggregate analysis

Step 3 — Fetch Data

Build the query with appropriate filters. Default behavior:

Use Layer 7 unless the question specifically targets laterals (6), pads (10), or legacy wells (5)
Set returnGeometry=false unless coordinates are needed
Request resultRecordCount=100 by default, increase for bulk queries
Include the most relevant fields rather than * to reduce response size

curl -sk "https://tagis.dep.wv.gov/arcgis/rest/services/WVDEP_enterprise/oil_gas/MapServer/7/query" \
  --data-urlencode "where=<WHERE_CLAUSE>" \
  --data-urlencode "outFields=permitid,api,county,welltype,welluse,wellstatus,formation,respparty,issuedate" \
  --data-urlencode "returnGeometry=false" \
  --data-urlencode "resultRecordCount=100" \
  --data-urlencode "f=json"

For statistics/aggregations:

curl -sk "https://tagis.dep.wv.gov/arcgis/rest/services/WVDEP_enterprise/oil_gas/MapServer/7/query" \
  --data-urlencode "where=<WHERE_CLAUSE>" \
  --data-urlencode "groupByFieldsForStatistics=<FIELD>" \
  --data-urlencode 'outStatistics=[{"statisticType":"count","onStatisticField":"objectid","outStatisticFieldName":"cnt"}]' \
  --data-urlencode "orderByFields=cnt DESC" \
  --data-urlencode "f=json"

Step 4 — Parse and Output

Response structure:

{
  "displayFieldName": "farmname",
  "fieldAliases": { "permitid": "PermitID" },
  "geometryType": "esriGeometryPoint",
  "spatialReference": { "wkid": 102100, "latestWkid": 3857 },
  "features": [
    {
      "attributes": {
        "permitid": "049-01310",
        "api": "4704901310",
        "county": "049",
        "welltype": "Vertical",
        "wellstatus": "Active Well"
      },
      "geometry": { "x": -8905123.45, "y": 4832567.89 }
    }
  ],
  "exceededTransferLimit": false
}

Extract the features[].attributes for tabular display. If exceededTransferLimit is true, paginate by incrementing resultOffset.

Output Format

Format: Raw Data Table + Narrative Summary

Present results as a markdown table (cap at ~20 rows), then a narrative summary.

Example output:

## Active Marcellus Wells in Marshall County

| Permit ID | API | Well Type | Status | Operator | Formation | Issued |
|-----------|-----|-----------|--------|----------|-----------|--------|
| 049-02100 | 4704902100 | Horizontal 6A | Active Well | EQT PRODUCTION CO | Marcellus Shale | 2018/03/15 |
| 049-02050 | 4704902050 | Horizontal | Active Well | SOUTHWESTERN ENERGY | Marcellus Shale | 2016/11/22 |
| ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... |

**Summary:** Marshall County (FIPS 049) has 3,355 total wells, of which 900
are active. Among active wells, 45 target the Marcellus Shale, predominantly
Horizontal 6A wells permitted under WV Code 22-6A. The top operators are EQT
Production Company and Southwestern Energy. Most Marcellus permits were issued
between 2010 and 2020. Note: the formation field is "NA" for approximately 85%
of records, especially older vertical wells — actual Marcellus well counts may
be higher than reported.

For aggregate queries, present a summary table with counts and a brief analysis of the distribution.

Pagination

The server returns a maximum of 3,000 records per request. To retrieve larger datasets, paginate using resultOffset:

offset = 0
all_records = []
while True:
    # fetch with resultOffset=offset and resultRecordCount=3000
    features = response["features"]
    all_records.extend(features)
    if len(features) < 3000 or not response.get("exceededTransferLimit"):
        break
    offset += 3000

Warn the user if the dataset exceeds ~10,000 records and suggest narrowing filters or using statistics queries instead.

Error Handling

HTTP / Error	Meaning	Action
200 + `error` in JSON	Bad query syntax (invalid field name, malformed WHERE)	Check field names against Layer 7 schema; fix WHERE clause
200 + `exceededTransferLimit: true`	More records than `resultRecordCount`	Paginate with `resultOffset` or narrow filters
200 + empty `features` array	No matching records	Verify filter values (check case sensitivity, FIPS codes)
400	Malformed request	Check parameter encoding, especially `outStatistics` JSON
500	Server error or service unavailable	Retry after brief wait; if persistent, note the WVDEP server may be down
SSL certificate error	Self-signed certificate	Use `-k` flag with curl or disable SSL verification
Timeout	Large result set or server load	Reduce `resultRecordCount`, add filters, or use `returnGeometry=false`

Important: The WVDEP ArcGIS server uses a certificate that may not be in all trust stores. Curl commands should include -k (or --insecure) if certificate errors occur. In Python, use a custom SSL context with verification disabled.

Caveats and Data Quality Notes

Formation data is sparse. Approximately 85% of well records have formation='NA', primarily older vertical wells. Formation data is more complete for wells permitted after ~2010, especially horizontal Marcellus and Utica wells.
Dates are strings, not date types. The issuedate and compdate fields are stored as strings in YYYY/MM/DD format. Many records have "None" for completion date. Date comparisons in WHERE clauses work as string comparisons.
County codes are FIPS, not names. The county field uses 3-digit zero-padded FIPS county codes (e.g., "049" for Marshall, "061" for Monongalia). See references/arcgis_rest.md for the full mapping.
Legacy data quality. Wells from the 1800s and early 1900s may have imprecise locations, missing operators, and "Not Available" for many fields. Over 15,000 wells are marked "Never Drilled" (permitted but never spud).
Layer 5 is separate. The 54,887 wells in Layer 5 (Not in WVDEP Database) are legacy WVGES records not yet migrated to RBDMS. They have a different field schema with additional location fields but may overlap or conflict with Layer 7 records.
Coordinate systems. The service returns geometry in Web Mercator (WKID 3857). Use inSR=4326 for WGS84 lat/lon input and outSR=4326 for WGS84 output. The wellx/welly attribute fields contain NAD83 UTM Zone 17N coordinates.
No production data in this service. The ArcGIS MapServer provides well metadata (permits, status, operator, formation) but does not include production volumes. Production data is available through the WVGES Pipeline web app (https://www.wvgs.wvnet.edu/pipe2/) on a per-well basis only.
Marcellus flag limitations. The marcellus field is "u" (unknown) for most older wells. Wells targeting the Marcellus as one of multiple zones may have marcellus='y' even if it is not the primary target. Cross-check with the formation field when precision matters.
"Horizontal 6A" vs "Horizontal." "Horizontal 6A" wells (6,832 records) are permitted under WV Code 22-6A (Natural Gas Horizontal Well Control Act, effective 2011), which has stricter surface disturbance and setback rules. "Horizontal" wells (2,574 records) predate this regulation or are governed by different statutes.
Server availability. The legacy WVGES ArcGIS server at atlas.wvgs.wvnet.edu is intermittently offline. The WVDEP server at tagis.dep.wv.gov is the reliable primary endpoint.

Implementation Notes

Prefer bash_tool with curl + jq for API calls in Claude's environment
Use -k flag with curl to handle the WVDEP SSL certificate
Python example — see references/python_example.py (stdlib only: urllib, json)
ArcGIS REST reference — see references/arcgis_rest.md for full layer schema, enumerated values, county codes, and query syntax
The service supports f=geoJSON for direct GeoJSON output suitable for mapping tools
outStatistics must be valid JSON — use single quotes around the curl argument and double quotes inside the JSON
Date filtering uses string comparison: issuedate >= '2020/01/01' works correctly because dates are stored in YYYY/MM/DD format

wvges-wells