1963: King Kirchner and Don Bodard purchased Unit Drilling Company from Woolaroc Oil Company. At that time, Unit consisted of three rigs which engaged in the contract drilling of oil and natural gas wells.

1964: Unit purchased four rigs from Falcon Seaboard Drilling Company while continuing to build the new company.

1974: Four more rigs were purchased from Leaben Drilling Company, as the demand for Unit's services increased.

1979: Unit added exploration and production to its operations, made its shares available to the public and changed its name to Unit Drilling and Exploration Company to describe its operations more accurately. Its stock began trading over-the-counter under the symbol UDE.

1980: The price of oil doubled and in some cases natural gas prices exceeded $9.00 per Mcf. Unit bought five rigs from Barrett Drilling Company, helping Unit to meet the demand of an unprecedented drilling boom.

1981: Unit moved from trading over-the-counter to trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

1986: Unit Corporation was formed and became the parent company of Unit Drilling and Exploration Company, replacing it on the New York Stock Exchange. Unit Corporation trades under the symbol UNT.

1988: In early 1988, as a result of its diversifying business activity, Unit reorganized its business operation resulting in its oil and natural gas exploration operations being carried out by its wholly owned subsidiary, Unit Petroleum Company and its contract drilling service being conducted by its wholly owned subsidiary, Unit Drilling Company.

Unit settled a natural gas contract dispute with a major natural gas purchaser. This settlement allowed Unit to receive substantially higher than spot market price for natural gas sold from wells included in the agreement and provided capital to continue our reserve growth.

1991: Unit doubled its proved reserves and its company-operated producing well count in the Texas Panhandle region, one of our primary areas of interest, through a large oil and natural gas producing property acquisition.

1994: Unit completed an acquisition of producing properties in Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas. The location of these properties enabled Unit to expand its oil and natural gas exploration and production operations in the Gulf Coast and Permian Basin regions. As a result of the acquisition, Unit added a new regional office in Houston, Texas.

1995: Unit's oil and natural gas reserves surpassed the 120 Bcfe mark, classifying Unit as a "mid-sized" oil and gas company. The Company's improving operations and increased visibility in the investment community resulted in several research analysts initiating coverage of Unit with "Buy" recommendations.

1997: Unit purchased Hickman Drilling Company, a privately-owned western Oklahoma and Texas panhandle contract drilling company. With this acquisition and the purchase of an additional rig, Unit increased its rig fleet by ten, bringing the total fleet to 34 rigs.

1999: Unit completed a public offering of 7,000,000 shares of common stock and received net proceeds of $50.4 million. Unit used $40.0 million of the proceeds to pay the cash portion of an acquisition completed on September 30, 1999. Unit acquired substantially all of Parker Drilling Company's U.S. lower 48 domestic onshore drilling assets, which included 13 diesel-electric deep drilling rigs. The acquisition increased Unit's onshore drilling rig fleet to 47 rigs and opened up a new market for the Company in the Rocky Mountains.

2000: Unit acquired Questa Oil & Gas Co. in a stock exchange for approximately 1.8 million shares of Unit common stock. At December 31, 2000, Unit reported proved reserves of 240.7 Bcfe. Unit replaced 311% of 2000 production with new reserves, achieving its stated goal of greater than 150% production replacement for the 17th consecutive year.

2001: In the first half of 2001, Unit Drilling added five rigs to its land fleet increasing the fleet to a total of 55 rigs. Effective July 1, 2001, King Kirchner retired as Chief Executive Officer and John Nikkel, Unit's President was appointed to the post. Mr Kirchner, co-founder of Unit in 1963, will continue in his position as Chairman of the Board.

2002: In August of 2002, Unit Drilling purchased 20 drilling rigs from Cactus Drilling Company, increasing the fleet to a total of 75 rigs. Twelve of the acquired rigs are SCR electric.

2003: The acquisition of SerDrilco, Inc. was completed. With this acquisition, Unit added 12 drilling rigs, a fleet of 12 trucks and a district office in Borger, Texas.

2004: Unit closed its acquisition of PetroCorp Incorporated in January of 2004 and gained oil and natural gas reserves of 56.7 Bcfe, consisting of 40.26 Bcf of natural gas and 2.74 million barrels of oil.

In August of 2004, Unit completed the acquisition of Sauer Drilling Company, a Casper, Wyoming-based drilling company. The acquisition included 9 drilling rigs, a fleet of trucks, and an equipment and repair yard with associated inventory, located in Casper.

In August, Unit also completed the acquisition of the 60% of Superior Pipeline Company LLC that it did not already own. Superior is a mid-stream company engaged primarily in the gathering, processing and treating of natural gas.

2005: In January of 2005, Unit closed its acquisition of a subsidiary of Strata Drilling LLC. Unit acquired two drilling rigs, as well as spare parts, inventory, drill pipe, and other major rig components.

In August, Unit closed its acquisition of all the Texas drilling operations of Texas Wyoming Drilling, Inc. The acquisition included 7 drilling rigs.

In November, Unit completed an acquisition of certain oil and natural gas properties from a group of private entities. The acquisition consisted of approximately 42.5 Bcfe of proved oil and natural gas reserves located in Oklahoma, Arkansas and Texas.

2006: In May of 2006, Unit closed its acquisition of certain oil and natural gas properties from a group of private entities. Proved oil and natural gas reserves involved in this acquisition consisted of approximately 14.2 Bcfe. Approximately 45% of the reserves are located in Oklahoma, 36% are located in Texas and 19% in New Mexico.

In October, Unit's wholly-owned subsidiary, Superior Pipeline Company closed its acquisition of Berkshire Energy LLC, which consisted of a natural gas processing plant, a natural gas gathering system with 15 miles of pipeline, three field compressors and two plant compressors, all in a highly active field in central Oklahoma.  

Also in October, Unit closed its acquisition of Brighton Energy, LLC.  The acquisition includes approximately 27.0 Bcfe of proved reserves and 5.0 MMcfe per day of current production.  The majority of the reserves are located in the Anadarko and Gulf Coast basins of Oklahoma, Texas and Louisiana, with additional reserves in Arkansas, Kansas, Montana, North Dakota and Wyoming.