Known Geologic Structures as Related to Onshore Oil and Gas Leasing

Tim S. Moore

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) administers the onshore oil and gas leasing program for federally administered lands. The basis of this program is the 1920 Mineral Leasing Act. This law requires that oil and gas leases be issued competitively in areas designated as a "Known Geologic Structure" (KGS). Leases may be issued noncompetitively through the Simultaneous Oil and Gas filing (SIMO) system or by over-the-counter lease offers in areas outside known producing geologic structures.

The petroleum industry and the general public may nominate areas for leasing. The BLM determines whether those nominated areas are, or should be, within a KGS. The KGS study areas are established where new or existing geologic information is evaluated in accordance with the KGS classification criteria. After a geologic analysis is prepared, the lands within a KGS study area are available for leasing by either competitive or noncompetitive methods.

The purpose of this presentation is to inform the interested parties where KGS study areas exist in the Ventura and Santa Maria basins, to indicate where competitive leasing is proposed, and to promote the development of a geologic database for those areas to assist in completing the KGS studies.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #91035©1988 AAPG-SEPM-SEG Pacific Sections and SPWLA Annual Convention, Santa Barbara, California, 17-19 April 1988.