LAST Producing Oil Well on the State Capitol Grounds - Oklahoma City, OK
Posted by: 
hamquilter
N 35° 29.458 W 097° 30.197
14S E 635762 N 3928521
The Petunia #1 well is the last producing oil well on the State Capitol grounds.
Waymark Code: WMPNPP
Location: Oklahoma, United States
Date Posted: 09/27/2015
Views: 15
On December 4, 1928 the Oklahoma City Field was discovered, and at one point, there were two dozen producing oil wells on the capitol grounds - a unique situation for the State. This well was actually the Phillips Petroleum Capitol Site No. 1 well, but it was affectionately nicknamed the Petunia #1 because it was drilled in the middle of a flower garden in 1941. The well was completed in 1942 and produced at a rate of 600 barrels of oil per day, drying up in 1986. In 1985, it was the only remaining producing well in the Oklahoma City Field.
A plaque nearby records that the refurbished oil well site was dedicated by Governor Frank Keating on July 25, 2001.
An article in the Los Angeles Times dated August 10, 1985 read:
Petunia Has Been Good to Oklahoma
August 10, 1985|CHARLES HILLINGER | Times Staff Writer
OKLAHOMA CITY — Gov. George Nigh grinned as he stood beside the Petunia No. 1 oil well on the grounds of the state Capitol. "No other governor has this kind of luxury," he declared.
Oklahoma claims to have the only Capitol in the world sitting on a producing oil field. Millions of barrels of crude have been recovered since drilling began 44 years ago, pumping several million dollars in royalties and taxes into the state's coffers.
At one time there were two-dozen wells, going as deep as 1 miles for the oil and gas under the grounds surrounding the six-story, granite-and-limestone Capitol. But the oil has been depleted and now the only remaining well is Capitol Site No. 1, as Phillips Petroleum refers to it. But all over Oklahoma, it's known as Petunia, taking its nickname from the petunia patch that covered the area where the well was dug.
That one well has produced 1,576,923 barrels of oil since it came in on Nov. 10, 1941, and has paid the cost of the Capitol many times over, said Jerry Smith, spokesman for Phillips Petroleum. Millions of dollars more poured into the state treasury from the other wells.