Today's domestic financial oil and gas environment clearly dictates economy--"get the most bang for the exploration bucks." The use of greatly enhanced existing data, especially in geophysics, is helping many cost-conscious explorationists find today's oil with today's dollars. Can exotic, expensive high technology be routinely justified when 95% of the exploration targets are shallow and small? The use of upgraded existing seismic data can produce savings as great as 99%. The Powder River and Sacramento basins, both complex stratigraphic exploration environments, were selected for a plot study to show the use of today's most sophisticated seismic data processing technology on 100% seismic data over 30 years old. This successful study illustrated the tremendous value achi vable in locating probable stratigraphic traps. We must get the best use of data we already have before we routinely obtain new data.

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