Hugoton Initiative Project Summary The Hugoton Embayment1 of southwest Kansas and Oklahoma represents one of the premier sources of natural gas production and reserves in the United States (Figure 1,2). Since 1928, the Permian (Wolfcampian) gas fields of southwestern Kansas, including Hugoton, Panoma, Bradshaw and Byerly, have produced over 25 Tcf and continue to represent a major annual source of gas production (total annual production of 550 Bcf in 1992, Figure 3). Throughout the lives of these fields ultimate cumulative production consistently has been underestimated (Mason, 1968). Even the current estimated reserves of 10 to 12 Tcf may be low. In the Hugoton Embayment, making estimates of reserves and predicting future development is difficult because relatively little is known of the system at the basin-wide scale. Activity in the Hugoton Embayment has not yet produced an understanding of the fundamental architecture of the reservoir, or elucidated the geologic controls on fluid migration, reservoir development and preservation, or trapping of hydrocarbons. The great size of the productive area at 12,000 square miles and with over 10,000 producing gas wells has made any comprehensive basin-wide study nearly intractable. Even a more focused study of just the Hugoton Gas Field proper would encompass over 4,100 square miles and 6,000 producing wells. Thus, previous studies logically have been severely limited in either area or scope. For example, if a geoscientist was to spend one hour analyzing each well, it would take over 6 years of continuous work to examine only the producing wells in the area. Unfortunately, without an understanding of the system as a whole efficient exploitation of this resource is unlikely. We propose to develop and implement strategies and cost-effective technologies that will permit efficient yet comprehensive study of large mature gas areas such as the Hugoton Embayment. The proposed approach will use data from all available wells to develop a basin-wide understanding of the architecture and fundamental geologic controls that affect fluid migration, trapping, and production in the shallow gas-producing horizons in the Hugoton Embayment. Importantly, the study will make the results easy to manipulate and readily available to operators because the proposed approach will make use of recent advances in relational databases, geographic information systems, and remote access to information, in conjunction with new techniques of spatial visualization and analysis. One new technique of spatial visualization and analysis is color image transformation of wire-line log data and treatment of the transformed data as "seismic" traces for the purposes of processing, interpretation and display. The transformed image in, either 2D or 3D, is treated as "seismic" data easing the data handling burdens through use of computerized techniques designed for interpretation of seismic data. Various filters and transformations can be applied to emphasize different aspects of the lateral variations in subsurface geology. The results of the proposed study will be both an approach and a product. The product will be the first comprehensive study of the shallow gas producing horizons of the Hugoton Embayment and its availability to the public. The approach will involve development and application of advanced data management, access, and analysis tools that will permit efficient study of the large data sets characteristic of mature fields and producing basins. This approach transforms the immense volume of existing data into a digestible form to overcome technologic barriers to efficient exploitation of the resources of the Hugoton Embayment. For the purposes of this proposal the Hugoton Embayment is defined by the 15 southwestern counties of Kansas (i.e., Finney, Grant, Gray, Greeley, Hamilton, Haskell, Kearny, Lane, Meade, Morton, Scott, Seward, Stanton, Stevens, Wichita).