Since the initial release of the Significant Oil and Gas Fields of the United States Database in 1985, NRG Associates has continuously improved the database, both through regular upgrades in our database coverage and by the addition of new features to the database. We are proud not only to have set the standard for field and reservoir database design and implementation, but for regularly raising that standard as well. Our latest major innovations - digital field and reservoir outlines, play typologies, outlines, and characteristics, the field cross-reference table, and the expansion and revision of the formation code system - are described below:

2011 to 2012 - Digital Field and Reservoir Outlines

Spatial analysis of field and reservoir data has become widespread with the development of GIS software in the past several years. To facilitate such analysis, Nehring Associates is developing digital field and reservoir outlines for use with the database. These outlines are based upon the field and reservoir definitions used in the database. They are “smart” outlines, tied directly to our field and reservoir data, thereby enabling the mapping of rock and fluid properties, size, growth and time of discovery. They are designed to provide realistic approximations of both field and reservoir shape and area. These outlines are being developed region by region, beginning with the Gulf of Mexico. They will be updated annually, incorporating both the addition of new fields and reservoirs and extensions to existing fields and reservoirs. In the latter half of 2012, we plan to develop a GIS retrieval system using our field and reservoir data with these outlines.

2008-2011 Play Typologies, Outlines, and Characteristics

A comprehensive set of play definitions has been part of the Significant Oil and Gas Fields of the United States Database from our initial release. In order to enhance the capability of our customers to conduct play analyses using the database, we have added play typologies, digital play outlines, and a new Play Characteristics Table to the database during the past four years.

In 2008, we added general and specific play types to our play definitions. Three general play types were defined: CONVENTIONAL (435 plays), TRANSITIONAL (128 plays), and UNCONVENTIONAL (113 plays). Only Transitional and Unconventional plays have a specific play type as well (Arctic Deep, Deepwater, Heavy Oil, Mediocre Permeability Oil, Self-Sourced, and Ultra Deep for Transitional plays, and Coalbed Methane, Low Permeability Oil, Shale Gas, Tight Carbonate Gas, and Tight Sandstone Gas for Unconventional plays).

In 2009, following the explosive emergence of shale gas plays, we changed our criteria for adding new plays to the database. Instead of waiting until a play had at least one commercially significant play, we are now adding plays to the database as soon as they publicly demonstrate commercial significance.

In 2010, we added the Play Characteristics Table. This table provides summary information about all the oil and gas plays in the database. The variables in this table are divided into six groups – play identification and location, basic geology, known play size, recent play growth, recent production, and summary discovery history. The Play Characteristics Table will be expanded and updated annually. More detailed information about the Play Characteristics Table is provided HERE

In 2011, we are providing digital play outlines for all the plays of the database. These outlines were developed from our Play Location #2 Table. By the end of 2011, we plan to develop a GIS providing retrieval and display capabilities for the information in the Play Characteristics Table with the play outlines.

2004 - The Field Cross Reference Table

The full value of the Significant Oil and Gas Fields of the United States Database can only be realized by combining it with other types of data. To facilitate the integration of the database with other vendor data, Nehring Associates developed the Field Cross Reference Table in 2004. This table combines the three different national field code systems that are currently available: those by Nehring Associates (NRG), IHS Energy, and the Energy Information Administration (EIA). The table uses the combination of field code and county to provide an accurate, comprehensive, and efficient link among these three field code systems. The table also indicates whether any particular field is a single or complex entity.

The Field Cross Reference Table is being updated annually as part of our regular updates to the database. The current version incorporates the twenty-sixth updated version of the database (data through 2009). Excluding discovered but undeveloped fields in Alaska, offshore California, and the Gulf of Mexico, the current version of the table has a match rate of 99.9% between the NRG and IHS field codes.

A detailed description of the Field Cross-Reference Table is provided HERE.

2002 to 2005 - Expanded and Revised Formation Codes

Sound subsurface evaluations, such as play analyses, depend on accurate stratigraphy. To better serve our customers, from 2002 to 2005 Nehring Associates revised and expanded the industry-standard formation code system first developed in the 1960s and adopted for use in the database in 1984. We decided to revise this formation code system because it suffered from three major shortcomings: (1) it had not incorporated the many advances in stratigraphic thinking since 1970; (2) it used many local, idiosyncratic names that had no professional or scientific acceptance; and (3) it could only group formations digitally by series.

Because of the large scope of this revision, we divided it into three phases, each phase corresponding to one of our annual update cycles. In the first phase (2002-2003), we expanded the existing formation codes by adding two additional numeric characters, thereby permitting precise placement of formations in the stratigraphic succession. We also revised existing codes to reflect recent advances in stratigraphic thinking and replaced local, idiosyncratic codes in both the database and the formation code library with their correct, commonly accepted equivalents. In the second phase (2003-2004), we reviewed and revised as necessary the formation designations and codes for three large groups of reservoirs whose historic designations were problematic, specifically the Gulf Coast Wilcox, the south Louisiana Miocene, and the Permian Basin Siluro-Devonian. The play definitions and assignments of reservoirs to plays in these three groups were also reviewed and revised as necessary. In the final phase (2004-2005), all the old formation codes in the database were replaced by the expanded and revised new codes.