January 18, 2021

William Ambrose

Using Core Descriptions for Industry Exploration

As Principal Investigator of the State of Texas Advanced Oil and Gas Resource Recovery (STARR) program, I am leading a variety of research projects in the Permian Basin, the most prolific basin in Texas. The goal of these projects is to provide the oil and gas industry with a robust interpretation of the geologic framework of leading producing formations in the basin, which includes the Ellenburger Group, Caddo Limestone, Strawn Group, Canyon Group, Cisco Group, Wolfcamp Formation, Tannehill Formation, Dean Sandstone, and Spraberry Formation.

In 2020, I described and interpreted over 4,000 ft of slabbed core at the Bureau’s core research facility in Austin. Information from these core descriptions has been sent to several of our STARR partner oil and gas companies who are using this information to make better-informed decisions on where to explore for additional oil and gas resources.