Abstract

Dissecting "Oil Finding" discloses three factors. One or more of these are always present. They are: A Concept, Serendipity, and The Race. The discovery of the North Fork field in the Powder River Basin of Wyoming, resulted from the concept of basement faults that die out upward and that structural irregularities in beds exposed far above the top of the fault zone would indicate the position of the fault below. The best production from the Sherwood field in the Powder River Basin of Wyoming came from a stratigraphic trap that was not foreseen: serendipity. I hasten to add that you can't succeed only on the basis of serendipity; you must drill wildcats based on good concepts in "oily" territory, then you have a chance of being lucky. Finding the Cottonweed Creek field in the Big Horn Basin of Wyoming resulted from winning the race. You can think of good concepts but unless you act on them, sell them, and buy the leases first, you will lose the race. The world has many brainy people, especially in geology, but in each race, there is only one winner.