Role of small oil and gas fields in the United States

Journal Article · Fri Nov 01 00:00:00 EST 1985 · AAPG Bull. (See CODEN: AAPGB); (United States)

OSTI ID:6145631

Meyer, R E; Fleming, M L

With the maturation of oil and gas production operations in a province or country, fields found by new-field wildcats diminish in size. The actual economic size cutoff is a function of such factors as depth, water depth offshore, and accessibility to transportation infrastructure. Because of the constraint of resource availability, price is now the principal force driving drilling activity. The proportion of new-field wildcats to other exploratory wells has fallen in recent years, but success in new-field wildcats has risen to about 20%. However, only very small fields, less than 1 million BOE, are being found in large numbers. The 200 largest companies, based on lease revenues, drill 30% of all wells and 44% of the footage, and they make 83% of drilling expenditures. The 20 largest companies alone find 60% of the large fields and 20% of the small ones. Through 1979, almost 93% of known gas fields and 94.5% of known oil fields were small, yet they contain only 14.5% of the ultimately recoverable gas and 12.5% of the oil. However, small fields are less capital intensive than equivalent-capacity synthetic-fuel plants, they are extremely numerous, and they are relatively easy and inexpensive to find and put on production.

• Research Organization: U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, Virginia
• OSTI ID: 6145631
• Journal Information: AAPG Bull. (See CODEN: AAPGB); (United States), Vol. 69:11
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

02 PETROLEUM
03 NATURAL GAS
NATURAL GAS FIELDS
EXPLOITATION
RESOURCE ASSESSMENT
SIZE
OIL FIELDS
COST BENEFIT ANALYSIS
ECONOMICS
EXPLORATION
EXPLORATORY WELLS
GEOLOGIC DEPOSITS
MINERAL RESOURCES
NATURAL GAS DEPOSITS
PETROLEUM DEPOSITS
RESOURCES
WELLS
020300* - Petroleum- Drilling & Production
030300 - Natural Gas- Drilling
Production
& Processing