Controls on Pennsylvanian hydrocarbon accumulations in Mid-Continent

Approximately 8.8 billion bbl of oil and about 31.5 Tcf of gas have been found in Pennsylvanian reservoirs in the Mid-Continent as of January 1, 1978. Although these volumes of hydrocarbons were trapped in thousands of fields throughout the region, most of these resources were emplaced in a relatively few fields: about 6.4 billion bbl of oil has been found in 90 significant and giant oil fields, and 18.5 Tcf of gas has been discovered in 50 significant and giant gas fields. Our calculations of the total oil and gas accumulations in Pennsylvanian reservoirs were extrapolated from these data. Most oil and gas accumulations of Pennsylvanian age in the Mid-Continent were stratigraphically trapped in lenticular sandstone bodies; the environments in which most of the clastics were deposited range from fluvial to deltaic to shallow marine. Even though this region is now in a late mature stage of exploration and development, important stratigraphic accumulations of oil and gas remain to be found. These fields will be discovered through detailed subsurface analysis, the reconstruction of depositional environments, and the application of high-resolution seismic data to stratigraphic problems.