What the Heat Map Shows
The map aggregates drilling-activity data into a “heat” format: regions of higher drilling density appear as warm colours (reds/oranges), while less active areas appear cooler.
Key observations from the map include:
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Hot-spots in major basins: The map clearly illuminates major drilling basins—such as the Permian Basin (West Texas / South East New Mexico), the Bakken Formation (North Dakota region), the Marcellus Shale (Appalachia), and the Eagle Ford Shale (South Texas).
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Regional density gradients: Beyond the major basins, you’ll see moderate drilling regions — such as portions of Oklahoma, Wyoming, and Colorado.
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Lower-activity regions: Many states show only modest heat, indicating fewer rigs, fewer wells or more dispersed activity.
This visual helps to quickly communicate where drilling is most active — and by implication, where infrastructure, environmental-risk, and regulatory pressures may be greatest.
Why This Matters: Industry & Policy Implications
1. Strategic planning & exploration
For oil & gas companies, knowing drilling density is essential. High-density areas often reflect favourable geology, existing infrastructure, and competitive but accessible opportunity. Conversely, cooler areas might mean higher risk, less developed supply chains, or less mature plays.
2. Infrastructure & supply-chain decisions
Drilling activity drives demand for roads, rigs, pipelines, water management and workforce housing. Regions shown in red on the heat map are natural hubs where service companies, rig manufacturers, and logistics often cluster. For example, the Permian region has become a hotspot not just for wells but for supporting fabrication yards and supply yards.
3. Environmental and community impact
High drilling density correlates with greater environmental footprint: more well pads, more traffic, more produced-water management, more flaring or venting, and more cumulative local impacts. Policymakers and communities in those hot zones face pressure to balance development with environmental protection—air, water and land.
4. Regulatory & fiscal implications
States with intense drilling often see larger tax revenues from severance taxes, higher royalty streams, and more state employment. At the same time, they may face greater regulatory burdens (well-bore integrity, emissions, waste disposal) and greater scrutiny from public-interest groups. The heat map helps regulators visualise where to focus inspection, permitting and community-outreach resources.
What the Map Doesn’t Show — Important Caveats
While heat maps like this are very useful, they come with limitations:
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No production data: High drilling density doesn’t automatically mean high production volume per well. Some wells yield more, others less.
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No cost/efficiency info: Two red areas might have the same drilling density but vastly different economics (costs, geological risk).
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No community-impact layering: The map doesn’t overlay population density, wildlife sensitivity, water-stress, etc., which are key for assessing externalities.
Given these omissions, the heat map is best used as an orientation tool, not as a standalone decision instrument.
The Evolution of U.S. Drilling Activity
To add context: According to the non-profit FracTracker Alliance, in around 2014 the U.S. had more than 1.1 million active oil & gas wells. Fractracker The U.S. Energy Information Administration also regularly publishes maps showing shale-oil and shale-gas play boundaries and drilling history. U.S. Energy Information Administration These resources confirm that drilling activity has been widely distributed across more than 30 states with unconventional resources, but concentrated in a handful of high-yield basins.
Since 2014, activity patterns have shifted: rig counts fell during price downturns, drilling transitioned further toward resource-rich basins, and new basins emerged. But the historical “heat map” remains a robust baseline for visualising clusters of drilling activity.
Practical Uses of the Heat Map for Different Stakeholders
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Investors & analysts: Use the map to identify drilling-density clusters, then dive deeper into well economics, production rates and operator activity in those zones.
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Service companies: For rig rental, frac-services, logistics planners, the heat map helps prioritise where to allocate equipment and personnel to meet demand.
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State & local governments: Officials can overlay the heat map with population, environmental-sensitivity, infrastructure burden and tax revenue to make budget and permitting decisions.
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Community groups & NGOs: The map points to drilling hotspots where cumulative impacts (noise, air quality, traffic) may be highest—thus providing a starting point for local advocacy or research.
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Journalists & communicators: Visuals such as this help explain to lay-audiences where the “drilling front” is and why drilling is concentrated.
Future Directions
While the map is valuable, the industry has continued to evolve. Areas for further mapping could include:
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Environmental-impact overlays: Combining drilling heat with metrics like air-quality exceedances, water-stress, or seismic events.
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Infrastructure readiness maps: Showing how pipelines, processing plants and drilling support correlate with drilling density.
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Community-exposure maps: Highlighting drilling density within proximity to homes, schools or hospitals.
Such enhancements would build on the foundational heat-map concept and deepen our understanding of drilling’s multi-dimensional footprint.
Conclusion
The “Heat Map of Oil & Gas Drilling in the United States” from DrillingMaps is more than just a colourful image—it’s a strategic visualization of where America’s upstream energy industry has concentrated its efforts. It reveals geographic patterns, offers insights into competitive landscapes, and highlights where regulatory, economic and environmental pressures may converge.
By understanding where drilling is most active, stakeholders—from operators and service firms to regulators, investors and communities—can ask deeper questions and make more informed decisions. And as drilling evolves, so too should our mapping and analysis tools, moving beyond simple heat to richer context and dynamic temporal insight.