ABSTRACT: Interactive Computer Display of Exploration through Time for Petroleum Producing Regions in the Conterminous United States

Debra K. Higley, Kenneth I. Takahashi

Petroleum exploration through time in the conterminous United States is animated and displayed on a Macintosh IIcx computer. Trends in national and basin exploration are shown with drill-hole data for cumulative 5-yr increments from 1900 through 1986. The temporal evolution of exploration proceeds from drilling of large structures and mostly shallow fields, to deeper drilling and the discovery and development of subtle traps.

The source of drill-hole data is the Petroleum Information Corporation's Well History Control System database. Drill-hole location, completion date, and production data were analyzed using a series of U.S. Geological Survey computer programs that divide the United States into approximately 1 mi² grid cells and calculate the types of petroleum production within each cell. Mapped data show the earliest time interval of exploration and the highest level of oil and gas, oil, gas, or nonproducing category, respectively, of each grid cell. A grid cell with an oil and gas symbol, for example, may contain an oil and gas, a gas, and a nonproducing drill hole, whereas, a dry-hole cell has only one or more nonproducing drill holes within it.

The exploration maps were generated with D2 Software's Macspin program on a Macintosh IIcx computer. United States political boundaries were created with Select Micro Systems' Mapmaker and Silicon Beach's Superpaint software. Apple Computers' Hypercard software is used to select and animate national and basin map images.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #91003©1990 AAPG Annual Convention, San Francisco, California, June 3-6, 1990