Geographic Coverage of the Database

Does the Significant Oil and Gas Fields of the United States Database cover the entire United States? Are the Gulf of Mexico and Alaska included?

The database covers the entire United States except for the Appalachian Basin and the Cincinnati Arch. Fields in these two provinces are excluded because most were discovered between 1859 and 1925: thus nearly all of the field and reservoir data we normally provide were never reported for these fields. The database provides complete coverage for all significant fields and reservoirs in the Gulf of Mexico and Alaska.

For further information, see The Database: Geographic Scope.

Deepwater Coverage

Does the database provide information on deepwater fields in the Gulf of Mexico?

The database provides extensive coverage on the deepwater fields of the Gulf of Mexico. The latest version of the database includes field and reservoir records on 196 fields in the deepwater lease areas and summary information on another 72 deepwater discoveries. The database also provides extensive information within a play context on all deep (greater than 15,000 TVD) shelf reservoirs.

Number of Fields in the Database

Does the database include all oil and gas fields in the United States?

The Significant Oil and Gas Fields of the United States Database, as the name implies, includes only significant fields, that is, fields with a known recovery (the sum of cumulative production and proved reserves) of 500,000 BOE (3 BCFE) or more. The current version of the database contains more than 16,500 fields. In most geologic provinces, particularly the larger ones, these significant fields contain 98.0 - 99.9% of the discovered resources.

For further information, see The Database: Field Data.

Information Within the Database

Does the database only provide estimates of field and reservoir production and reserves?

Estimates of field and reservoir production and reserves are a key feature of the Significant Oil and Gas Fields of the United States Database The primary value of the database, however, comes from its integration of current field and reservoir production and reserve data with a broad variety of other types of field and reservoir data including location, discovery history, reservoir rock and fluid characteristics, recent production histories, and recent size histories.

For a detailed description of the content of the database, see Field Data and Major Reservoir Data.

Source of Reserve Estimates in the Database

Who provides the field and reservoir proved reserve data in the database?

Nehring Associates' staff estimate all the field and reserve data provided in the database. These estimates are made annually using the most appropriate decline curve for each field and reservoir. We also compare and correlate the sum of our field estimates by product for each geopolitical area (states and districts) to the area estimates provided annually by the Energy Information Administration (EIA). For the hundred largest oil and gas fields by remaining reserves (which contain 62% of national oil reserves and 610/c of national gas reserves), we also infer field reserves from EIA’s annual published lists of these fields.

For further information, see Field Data: Field Production, Reserves, and Wells.

Well Data in the Database

Does the database feature or include well data?

The purpose of the Significant Oil and Gas Fields of the United States Database, as the name implies, is to provide information on the significant oil and gas fields of the United States and their major reservoirs. Each major reservoir is assigned to one of the 676 oil and gas plays defined for the country. Thus the emphasis of the database in on field, reservoir, and play data, not on well data.

The database however provides basic information on field and reservoir discovery well and includes recent end-year counts of field active, producing, service, and shut-in wells. Through the Field Cross Reference Table, our field and reservoir information can be linked to the extensive well data provided by IHS Energy, the state oil and gas agencies, and other vendors of well data.

For further information on the emphasis of the database, see The Database: Field Data and The Database: Reservoir Data. For further information on well data within the database, see Field Data: Field Discovery Well and Field Data: Field Production, Reserves, and Wells and Major Reservoir Data: Major Reservoir Discovery Well. See The Field Cross-Reference Table to learn how the database can be linked to well databases.

Play Definitions in the Database

Does the database use only the play definitions developed by Nehring Associates?

The Significant Oil and Gas Fields of the United States Database was the first publicly available source of nationwide play definitions. Because we recognize the value of different perspectives on play definition, we have also incorporated in the database two other sets of play definitions: the U.S. Government (USG) and the Gas Research Institute (GRI) play definitions.

For further information, see The Database: Play Data.

Database Availability

Is the database available only through a licensing agreement with Nehring Associates?

The Significant Oil and Gas Fields of the United States Database is available for your use either through a database license or through Nehring Associates Basin and Play Evaluation Service. License agreements are best for those customers intending repeated, intensive use. Data retrievals using the Basin and Play Evaluation Service are best for those who only need the database for limited one-time uses.

For further information, see Database Availability.