Preparation of Northern Mid-Continent Petroleum Atlas--Reporting Period: October 1, 1996 -- December 31,1996

Cooperative Agreement No.: DE-FG22-96BC14844

Contractor Name and Address: The University of Kansas Center for Research Inc.

Date of Report: February 4, 1997

Award Date: August 30, 1996

Government Award for Current Fiscal Year: $ 250,000

• Lee C Gerhard (Principal Investigator)
• Timothy R. Carr (Program Manager)
• W. Lynn Watney

Project Manager: Chandra Nautiyal, Bartlesville Project Office

Reporting Period: October 1, 1996 -- December 31,1996

As proposed, the second year program will continue and expand upon the Kansas elements of the original program, and provide improved on-line access to the prototype atlas. The second year of the program will result in a prototype digital atlas sufficient to demonstrate the approach and to provide a permanent improvement in data access to Kansas operators. The ultimate goal of providing an interactive history-matching interface with a regional data base remains for future development as the program covers more geographic territory and the data base expands. The long-term goal is to expand beyond the prototype atlas to include significant reservoirs representing the major plays in Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota, the Williston basin portion of Montana, the Denver-Julesburg basin of eastern Colorado and southeastern Colorado.

Primary products of the second year prototype atlas will be on-line accessible digital data bases covering two additional petroleum plays in Kansas. Regional databases will be supplemented with geological field studies of selected fields in each play. Digital imagery, digital mapping, relational data queries, and geographical information systems will be integral to the field studies and regional data sets. Data sets will have relational links to provide opportunity for history-matching, feasibility, and risk analysis tests on contemplated exploration and development projects. The flexible "web-like" design of the atlas provides ready access to data, and technology at a variety of scales from regional, to field, to lease, and finally to the individual well bore. The digital structure of the atlas permits the operator to access comprehensive reservoir data and customize the interpretative products (e.g., maps and cross-sections) to their needs. The atlas will be accessible in digital form on-line using a World-Wide-Web browser as the graphical user interface.

Regional data sets and field studies will be free-standing entities that will be made available on-line through the Internet to users as they are completed. Technology transfer activities will be ongoing from the earliest part of this project, providing data information sets to operators prior to the full digital atlas compilation.

As part of the first year project "Pages" and data schema for the atlas overview and field studies were developed and made accessible through the world-wide-web. The atlas structure includes access to geologic, geophysical and production information at levels from the national, to the regional, to the field to the individual well. Several approaches have been developed that provide efficient and flexible screening and search procedures. The prototype of the digital atlas is accessible through the Kansas Geological Survey Petroleum Research Section (PRS) HomePage (The Universal Resource Locator [URL] is http://www.kgs.ku.edu/PRS/PRS.html). The Digital Petroleum Atlas (DPA) HomePage is available directly at http://www.kgs.ku.edu/DPA/dpaHome.html.

The multi-pay Terry Field in Finney County was selected for inclusion in the DPA. Terry Field was a 1991 discovery with primary producing zones in the Lansing-Kansas City, Marmaton and Mississippian. A number of county scale geologic maps are being generated and will be loaded into the DPA. Well-log and other well information for Terry Field are being collected and a field study is underway.

On-line Prototype

The following changes and additions have occurred to the on-line prototype atlas.

DPA HomePage: http://www.kgs.ku.edu/DPA/dpaHome.html

On the DPA Homepage (http://www.kgs.ku.edu/DPA/dpaHome.html), a new set of navigation buttons for the national, Northern Mid-continent and Kansas levels of the DPA provides clear separation for efforts in the different areas. Most of our efforts are placed in Kansas, but we will add significant information to the other areas. A report on electronic publication in the earth sciences that will be published in COMPUTERS AND GEOSCIENCES is available through a link to the DPA Homepage.

Kansas HomePage: http://www.kgs.ku.edu/DPA/dpaKansas.html

Residual Bouguer gravity and reduced-to-the-pole magnetic data and maps of Kansas are available through the Kansas regional geologic setting page (http://www.kgs.ku.edu/DPA/regional.html). Small scale maps with selected overlays can be viewed on-line or larger scale maps can be downloaded. Overlays include county lines, outlines of oil and gas fields, Post-Mississippian structure and Precambrian structure. A general discussion of the gravity and magnetic data is provided.

Field Pages: various URLís

Additional information was added to the Arroyo, Big Bow, Gentzler and Schaben fields. Production data at the field and lease level is being updated through 1996.

Technology transfer is ongoing through presentations at national and regional meetings and through the use of monthly electronic updates and the on-line availability of the DPA products. Project information and Progress Reports are linked to the Digital Petroleum Atlas HomePage. The prototype Digital Petroleum Atlas remains one of the most visited pages on the Kansas Geological Survey web site (Current usage statistics can be accessed at the bottom of the Petroleum Research Section HomePage or at http://www.kgs.ku.edu/PRS/usage/past_stats.html). Presentations were given at the Annual Meeting of the Geological Society of America on October 28 and the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission (IOGCC) Annual Meeting on December 9. Additional presentations are scheduled at the Powder River Basin Section of SPE on May 14 and at the Annual Meeting of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists on April 9 (Appendix A). An abstract was submitted for the annual meeting of the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE). Papers, citing the Digital Petroleum Atlas as an example of new forms of on-line publication, are in press for COMPUTERS AND GEOSCIENCES and the PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOSCIENCE INFORMATION SOCIETY.

Abstract for Annual Meeting of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists on April 6-9
Scientific Communication in the Earth Sciences: The Impact of the Electronic Publication

 TIMOTHY R. CARR; DANA ADKINS-HELJESON; REX C. BUCHANAN; PAUL GERLACH; THOMAS D. METTILLE; and JANICE H. SORENSEN; Kansas Geological Survey, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS

 Traditional paper media, such as books, monographs, journals, and maps. have been a recognizable aspect of geologic work for several centuries. They remain the primary medium for communicating research results, transferring technology, and archiving knowledge. However, continued growth in volume of earth-science literature, increased unit costs of producing and archiving paper publications, and rapidly increasing power and availability of electronic technology are creating pressures on traditional scientific communication, and rapidly altering the role of traditional publication as a means of scientific communication. Electronic publication provides broad access and alters the relationship between interpretative result and the data. Electronic technology improves the quality and accessibility of ìnon-traditionalî research products, (e.g., digital geographic information and unpublished archival material), and provides the means to create dynamic forms of scientific communication that can only be displayed in an electronic environment. New forms of communication use hypertext and relational database functions to provide text and graphics with which readers can interact. Electronic publication improves research reproducibility and facilitates use and continued enhancement of research products. Earth science institutions, including the Kansas Geological Survey, are experimenting with new forms of on-line publication that assure broad access to research and data, and improve application of research to societal problems.