Preparation of Northern Mid-Continent Petroleum Atlas

As proposed, the third year program will continue and expand upon the Kansas elements of the original program, and provide improved on-line access to the prototype atlas. The third year of the program will result in a digital atlas sufficient to provide a permanent improvement in data access to Kansas operators. The ultimate goal of providing an interactive history-matching interface with a regional data base will be demonstrated as the program covers more geographic territory and the data base expands. The atlas will expand to include significant reservoirs representing the major plays in Kansas, and North Dakota. Primary products of the third year prototype atlas will be on-line accessible digital data bases and technical publications covering two additional petroleum plays in Kansas and one in North Dakota. Regional databases will be supplemented with geological field studies of selected fields in each play. Digital imagery, digital mapping, relational data queries, and geographical information systems will be integral to the field studies and regional data sets. Data sets will have relational links to provide opportunity for history-matching, feasibility, and risk analysis tests on contemplated exploration and development projects. The flexible "web-like" design of the atlas provides ready access to data, and technology at a variety of scales from regional, to field, to lease, and finally to the individual well bore. The digital structure of the atlas permits the operator to access comprehensive reservoir data and customize the interpretative products (e.g., maps and cross-sections) to their needs. The atlas will be accessible in digital form on-line using a World-Wide-Web browser as the graphical user interface. Regional data sets and field studies will be free-standing entities that will be made available on-line through the Internet to users as they are completed. Technology transfer activities will be ongoing from the earliest part of this project, providing data information sets to operators prior to the full digital atlas compilation