The discovery of the East Painter Reservoir field in mid-1979 led to the initiation of the first major 3-D survey in the Wyoming Overthrust belt. A 3-D survey was necessary because interpretation of conventional 2-D seismic data over the East Painter area did not provide a sufficiently reliable picture of the structure on the objective Triassic Nuggett zone to permit an aggressive development program to be carried out. Field data for the 17 mi² (44 km²) East Painter 3-D survey were collected during the winter of 1979-1980, and the final migrated sections were in hand by July 1980.

Interpretation of the final 3-D products resolved the previous structural ambiguities and showed the East Painter structure to be continuous and almost as large as the main Painter Reservoir feature. Information from the 3-D mapping allowed up to 6 development wells to be drilled at one time and helped to guide the locations of the last 13 development wells; all of them were successful. The average cost per well was $4 to $5 million. The cost of the 3-D survey was $1.6 million, which turned out to be a good value.

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