Oil and gas records

The KGS Data Resources Library houses records for more than 450,000 oil and gas wells and 250,000 water wells.

The oil and gas records include Oil and Gas Well Completion Forms (ACO-1 forms) and drillers’ logs dating back to the 1920s. These forms generally contain information about well location, lease name, operator's name, depth, formation tops, type of completion, and dates. For more than half of those wells, the Data Resources Library also has geophysical logs—graphic charts of the changes in the physical properties of rocks recorded by electrical, acoustic, and nuclear sensing devices.

Other oil and gas records on file include scout cards, strip logs, and plugged well information, as well as a compilation of wells drilled into Precambrian rocks, a list of drill cores stored in the KGS Drill Core Library, and a compilation of information about oil-field brines of Kansas. Photocopies of non-copyrighted materials are available for a fee. Purchased data the library subscribes to—including new drilling locations, new completions, currently operating wells, and production histories and reports—can be viewed in the library.

The Data Resources Library is open to the public. Much of the information the Data Resources Library collects also is available on the KGS website. Web-based resources include production data by county, field, and lease; plugged-well information; a listing of rotary cutting samples available at the KGS Well Sample Library in Wichita; and a listing of drill cores stored in the KGS Core Library in Lawrence.