U.S.

GEOLOGICAL SURVEY DIGITAL DATA SERIES DDS-33

House Creek Oil Field, Powder River Basin, Wyoming

FORMATS AND EXPLANATIONS FOR SSXTOPS.DAT, SSXPOROS.DAT,

COREPOR.DAT AND FLDOUTLN.PLY FILES
ssxtops.dat <SSXTOPS.DAT> contains borehole location/elevation/well symbol/well name/depth
to the Upper Cretaceous Ardmore Bentonite, and depths to top and base of the underlying
Sussex "B" sandstone and the separate sand ridges that comprise it
ssxporos.dat <SSXPOROS.DAT> contains borehole X-Y location, core and well-log porosity
data, core permeability, and sample depths relative to the surface, the base of the Sussex "B"
sandstone, and the base of the Ardmore Bentonite.
corepor.dat <COREPOR.DAT> lists core porosity, permeability, water, and oil saturation data
for Sussex and Shannon Member sandstones by borehole name and township-range-section
location
fldoutln.ply <FLDOUTLN.PLY> (fields-outline polygons) contains the x and y coordinates of
outlines of the House Creek and Porcupine oil fields. Coordinate system is the same as above
data files. This file was used as a clipping polygon for the 3-D porosity and permeability models.
File format is space-delimited point data; X (1:8), Y (9:20)

Ssxtops.dat has formation-tops data by borehole. Format is space-delimited ASCII.

Headings are not present in files; heading descriptions and column locations follow
the below well listings. Three or more spaces separate each data element. Blanks are
marked with an * . Each of the 525 boreholes has a listed township, range, and
section (data is sorted relative to this location), and estimated distance in meters
from the map origin; central meridian is 106 degrees east and latitude is 44 degrees
north. All 2-D and 3-D map images are generated from this origin. Our well-log
analysis was augmented by other sources of information; these include Kerr-McGee
Corp., Woods Petroleum Corp., Meridian Oil, Petroleum Information Corp., and
State of Wyoming Oil and Gas Conservation Commission.
This file was used to delineate sand-ridge and reservoir-grade-sandstone boundaries
for isopach maps and 3-D images. Reservoir-grade sandstones are defined as greater
than 8.5 percent porosity, in combination with greater than 8 millidarcies (mD)
permeability, geophysical well-log signatures, core and thin-section data, and
borehole production data. A 10 MV spontaneous potential (SP) well-log deflection
bounds gross sandstone intervals. This zone is characterized by a rapid decrease in
core and well-log porosity. The boundary occurs at approximately 8.5 percent
porosity, although this varies.

Listing of two
wells from and format of the ssxtops.dat file

API
X
SSXBD SSXUT SSXUB SSXLT

Y
SSXLB

TRS
SYMB

ELEV
NAME

YR

TD

ARDEP SSXTP

(1) 4900525013 43840 -30380 N43W7201 5003 78 7925

7811
*
*
*
*
17
1-1 STUART-BRO
(2) 4900524816 40990 -30390 N43W7203 4964 78 7996
7909 7896
7898
7904
7905
17
1- WATSON

7752

7806

7844

7891

API

( 1:10 )
number

American Petroleum Institute well identification

( 15:19 )
origin

Approximate distance in meters east of the map

( 23:28 ) Approximate distance in meters north or south of

the map origin

TRS

( 32:39 )
range
format

Township direction (north or south) and number,

direction (west or east) and number.

ELEV

( 43:46 )

Surface elevation of the borehole, in feet

YR

( 50:51 )

Well completion year

TD

( 55:59 )

Total drill depth from the surface, in feet

Alpha

ARDEP ( 63:66)
Bentonite

Depth (in ft) from the surface to the Ardmore

SSXTP ( 70:73)
between

Depth (in ft) from the surface to the disconformity

the Sussex "B" sandstone and the overlying

Cody Shale.
SSXBD ( 77:80) Depth (in ft) from the surface to the basal
disconformity
between the Sussex "B" sandstone and the Cody
Shale.
SSXUT ( 84:87) Depth (in ft) from the surface to the top of the
upper reservoir sandstones.
SSXUB ( 91:94)
Sussex "B"

Depth (in ft) from the surface to the base of the

SSXLT ( 98:101)
Sussex "B"

Depth (in ft) from the surface to the top of the

upper reservoir sandstones.

lower reservoir sandstones.

SSXLB (105:108)
Sussex "B"

Depth (in ft) from the surface to the base of the

lower reservoir sandstones.

SYMB (112:113) Well symbols of dry and non-productive (17),

injection (15),
gas wells (20), oil (22), and oil and gas (29)
wells
NAME

(113:132)

Well name - in mixed alpha and numeric characters

Ssxporos.dat contains core and well-log porosity, and core-permeability data by

borehole for the Sussex "B" sandstone and bounding Cody Shale intervals. Format
is space-delimited ASCII. Three or more spaces separate each data element.
Heading descriptions and column locations follow the below data list. Blanks are
marked with an *. Data are sorted relative to API number, which is also the primary
link between data files. Within each borehole, data are sorted by sample depth.
This file contains the raw data used to generate 3-D porosity and permeability
images. Core porosity and permeability values are listed for 13 wells within and
proximal to the House Creek field. Well-log porosity data are derived from bulkdensity and sonic-log traces for about 100 boreholes. Porosity was calibrated to a
specific grain density of 2.68 g/cm3; this approximates average grain densities
determined from the core analyses and estimated from thin-section examinations. <
P>

Listing of data for and format of the ssxporos.dat file

API

SBASDP

SARDEP

SAMPDP

POR

4900522703

31287

-24851

-1

-70

8212

5.65

4900522703

31287

-24851

-1

-72

8214

5.71

4900522717

31325

-24044

13

-52

8164

10.7

4900522717

31325

-24044

12

-53

8165

7.8

31325

-24044

11

-54

8166

8.9

31325

-24044

10

-55

8167

9.9

31325

-24044

-56

8168

6.7

PERM

*
*
1.5
0.75

4900522717

22.8

4900522717

0.62

4900522717

2.4

4900522717

31325

-24044

-57

8169

7.1

4900522717

31325

-24044

-58

8170

14.9

4900522717

31325

-24044

-59

8171

15.2

0.97
3.9
48.2

API

( 1:10)
number

(14:18)

(22:27)
map origin

American Petroleum Institute well identification

Approximate distance in meters east of the map origin

Approximate distance in meters north or south of the

SBASDP (31:33) Distance (in ft) of sample above the basal

disconformity of
the Sussex "B" sandstone

SARDEP (37:41) Distance (in ft) of sample below the base of the
Ardmore Bentonite
SAMPDP (45:48)

Depth (in ft) of the sample below ground surface

POR

Core or well-log porosity (in percent)

(52:55)

PERM
(59:62) Core permeability (mD) for about 13 wells.
indicates no data

An *

The Corepor.dat file contains core porosity (volume %) and permeability (mD)
measurement data (POR and PERM) of Sussex and Shannon Sandstone Members
of the Cody Shale; data are listed by sample dept (DEPTH) in feet below ground
surface, and borehole location. This file of data for 37 boreholes is included for
archival purposes. Format is tab-delimited ASCII. The below heading is present at
the top of this list but not on the archived file. API number and X-Y location are not
included, however this information is located in the ssxtops.dat file and can be
accessed by linking the township-range-section (TRS) values for both files.
WELL
WELL_LOC
WELL_NAME
NUMBER
TRS
LOCATION

DEPTH

PERM

POR

OIL

WATER

(FEET)

(MD)

(%)

(%)

(%)

AND

12
N44W7323
8240
23 FEDERAL
12
N44W7323
8241
12
N44W7323
8242
23, T. 44 N, R. 73 W
12
N44W7323
8243
12
N44W7323
8244
12
N44W7323
8245
12
N44W7323
8246
12
N44W7323
8247
13
N44W7309
8189
GOVERNMENT MILES
13
N44W7309
8190
13
N44W7309
8191
SEC. 9, T. 44 N, R. 73 W
13
N44W7309
8192
13
N44W7309
8193
13
N44W7309
8194

.09

5.40

NO. 1-

1.6
7.2

10.0
16.0

*
*

*
*

FED2373
SEC.

19.
8.2
9.3
2.7
1.9
.23

16.0
14.0
14.0
14.0
16.0
6.4

*
*
*
*
*
0.0

*
*
*
*
*
65.7

NO.1

.72
22.7

7.9
15.0

8.9
17.8

66.0
26.8

GOVT44
SW NE

38.6
35.8
73.5

12.0
17.0
15.0

12.3
13.9
17.6

30.3
27.8
30.5