Database Coverage and Contents
Does the database cover the entire United States, including the Gulf of Mexico and Alaska?
Does the database provide information on deepwater fields in the Gulf of Mexico?
Does the database include all oil and gas fields in the United States?
Does the database only provide estimates of field and reservoir production and reserves?
Who provides the field and reservoir proved reserve data in the database?
Does the database feature well data?
Does the database use only the play definitions developed by Nehring Associates?
Database Availability
Is the database available only through a licensing agreement with Nehring Associates?
Database Coverage and Contents
Does the database cover the entire United States, including the Gulf of Mexico and Alaska?
The Significant Oil and Gas Fields of the United States 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, when most of the field and reservoir data that we normally provide were never reported for these fields.
The database provides complete coverage for all fields and reservoirs in the Gulf of Mexico and Alaska.
For further information, see The Database: Map of Regions.
Does the database provide information on deepwater fields in the Gulf of Mexico?
Yes, the database provides extensive coverage on the deepwater fields of the Gulf of Mexico. Our latest version includes field and reservoir records on 146 fields in the deepwater lease areas and summary information on another 96 deepwater discoveries. The database also provides extensive information within a play context on all deep shelf reservoirs (i.e., greater than 15,000' TVD).
Does the database include all oil and gas fields in the United States?
No; the database 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. In most geologic provinces, the significant fields contain 98.0 - 99.9% of the discovered resources.
The Significant Oil and Gas Fields of the United States Database currently contains more than 16,000 oil and gas fields.
For further information, see The Database: Field Data.
Does the database only provide estimates of field and reservoir production and reserves?
No, it provides much more than that. Estimates of field and reservoir production and reserves are a key feature of the Significant Oil and Gas Fields of the United States Database. However, the primary value of the database 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.
Who provides the field and reservoir proved reserve data in the database?
Nehring Associates' staff estimate all the field and reservoir 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, 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.
Does the database feature well data?
No. The purpose of the Significant Oil and Gas Fields of the United States Database 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 655 oil and gas plays defined for the country. The emphasis of the database is thus on field, reservoir, and play data , not on well data.
The database does, however, provide 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 and the state oil and gas agencies.
For further information on the emphasis of the database, see The Database: Field Data and Major Reservoir Data.
For further information on well data within the database, see Field Data: Field Discovery Well and Field Production, Reserves, and Wells and Major Reservoir Data: Major Reservoir Discovery Well.
To learn how the database can be linked to well databases, see The Field Cross-Reference Table.
Does the database use only the play definitions developed by Nehring Associates?
No; it also includes play definitions from the U.S. Government (USG) and the Gas Research Institute.
The Significant Oil and Gas Fields of the United States Database was the first publicly available source of nationwide play definitions. However, because we recognize the value of different perspectives on play definition, we have also incorporated the play definitions of the U.S. Government (USG) and the Gas Research Institute into the database.
For further information, see The Database: Organization by Play.
Is the database available only through a licensing agreement with Nehring Associates?
No; there are two options.
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. The Basin and Play Evaluation Service is best for those who only need the database for limited one-time uses.
For further information, see Database Availability.