Abstract
Exploration in 1987 focused on development and extension of existing fields, with development wells outnumbering exploratory wells 13 to 1.
Operators completed 4.3% more exploratory wells and 25.7% fewer development wells than in 1986. The success rate for exploratory wells increased 7.7%; the success rate for development wells remained constant. The Cherokee shelf was the most active trend, with 53 exploratory wells completed in 1987.
The dominant plays were the Atoka, Morrow, Springer, and Marchand in the Anadarko basin; the Misener in Grant County, Oklahoma, on the Sedgwick shelf; the Viola in the Golden Trend along the Pauls Valley uplift; and the Wapanucka, Cromwell, and Atoka in the Arkoma basin.
Nineteen eighty-seven was a year of major sales and acquisitions of Oklahoma and Panhandle of Texas reserves and leases with more than 20 companies buying or selling out.
