The Surface Casing Estimator Site is an online platform designed to offer estimates of potential surface casing requirements for wells, along with relevant information. During the fiscal year 2018, the Surface Casing Estimator Site project focused on several tasks:

1. Scanning geophysical logs from the Q-log library for 12 counties.
2. Compiling digital datasets containing geological information pertinent to estimating surface casing requirements and groundwater depths for 7 counties in West Texas and 1 county within the Texas Gulf Coastal Plain.
3. Integrating and programming the newly acquired data with the existing data on the website.

The Estimator Site furnishes data regarding elevations and depths for various parameters, including the top and base of fresh water, the base of usable-quality water, the base of underground sources of drinking water, and the top and base of critical water-bearing stratigraphic units. Additionally, it provides information on aquifer names, geophysical logs, and the locations of wells.

The work undertaken during FY18 has significantly expanded the resources available on the Surface Casing Estimator Site, allowing approximately 700 additional geophysical logs from 8 Texas counties to be accessed through the platform.Bureau of Economic Geolog

Averett, Aaron R.

Collins, Edward W.

Ortuno, Jeremy

English

Texas ScholarWorks

QAe8046r----1 I u Final Report for the FV18 Surface Casing Estimator Site Project by Edward W. Collins, Aaron R. Averett, and Jeremy Ortuno prepared for Railroad Commission of Texas under Contract Project Number UTA17-001427 Bureau of Economic Geology Scott W. Tinker, Director Jackson School of Geosciences The University of Texas at Austin August 2018 Contents ,-:1' _I, ,__ AB TRACT ........................................................................................................... 0 ••••••••••••••• 3 IN RODUCTION .........................................................................................................•.•....•.• 3 G OPHYSICAL LOG SCANNING ....................................................... , .................................... 4 S RFACE CASING ESTIMATOR SITE ............................................................ , ........................ 5 F TUREWORK .................................................................................................................... 6 [7 lJ R FERENCES ........................................................................................................................ 6 Figures 1. Counties with Q-well logs scanned ................................................................................. 7 2. Counties completed for Surface Casing Estimator Site .................. :-: ..... J ........................ 8 \ " [l ABSTRACT The Surface Casing Estimator Site is a website that provides estimates of possible surface-casing requirements for wells and related information. Work during FY18 for the Surface Casing Estimator Site project involved (1) scanning geophysical logs of the Q-log library for 12 counties, (2) constructing digital data sets composed of geologic information that relates to estimating surface-casing requirements and groundwater depths for 7 counties in West Texas and 1 county within the Texas Gulf Coastal Plain, and (3) merging/programming the new data with the website's existing data. The Estimator Site provides information on elevations and depths for the top and base of fresh water; the base of usable-quality water; the base of underground sources of drinking water; and the top and base of critical water-bearing stratigraphic units, aquifer names, geophysical logs, and well locations. The FY18 work has enabled about 700 additional geophysical logs in 8 Texas counties to be viewed through the Surface Casing Estimator Site. INTRODUCTION The FY18 Surface Casing Estimator Site project continues work on (1) constructing a web-enabled estimator site with statewide coverage, and (2) scanning geophysical logs of the hard-copy Q-well log data files that are evaluated to make casing recommendations for wells drilled in Texas. Work for the Surface Casing Estimator Site, which began in 2004 with development of spatial and tabular data, has been displayed over the Internet (Arc IMS) for specific Texas counties, allowing oil and gas operators, Railroad Commission of Texas (RRC) staff, and other users to determine probable surface-casing requirements and view selected geophysical logs and other features such as land-survey boundaries, roads, and well locations. Since the initial success of the pilot project, a study of Brazos County in 2004, the project has interpreted and prepared estimator-site data sets for 86 counties and has scanned Q-well logs for 130 counties (figs. 1 and 2) . This project year's work involved three primary phases: (1) scanning of geophysical logs for 12 counties and initial study of RRC data for 8 counties to prepare data sets for addition to the Surface Casing Estimator Site, (2) interpretation of geologic data for estimator-site-study counties, and (3) construction and review of Surface Casing Estimator Site digital data sets for 8 counties. Project deliverables are digital TIFF images of the scanned Q-logs and study-area additions/updates to the web-enabled Surface Casing Estimator Site. More than 7,725 log scans were delivered during this project year. Data for the 8-county West Texas study area have been added to the Surface Casing Estimator Site at http://www.beg.utexas.edu/research/areas/groundwater-studies/surface-casing-estimator. Scanning of the RRC Q-log library is an ongoing task that will continue for 12 additional counties into a new contract year, FY19, with the RRC. Data for 8 counties will be studied and added to the Surface Casing Estimator Site during FY19. 17 J [-) u i-i I I u [j LJ GEOPHYSICAL LOG SCANNING Required scanning during FY18for 12 counties-Scurry, Brazoria, Montgomery, Waller, Crosby, Yo ng, Jefferson, Archer, Hidalgo, Wichita, Stephens, and Nolan-was almost completed by the end of Jul ; scanning continues during August. More than 7,725 scans of Q-well geophysical logs were made by th end of July. Scanning for 10 counties is fully completed, and work for 2 counties is scheduled to be co pleted by the end of August. In addition to the scanning work for these 12 counties, some relatively re ent geophysical logs of the Q-well files were scanned for Reeves County, a county that had scanning w rk done several years ago. Selection of these 13 counties for the scanning of geophysical logs conforms to RRC needs and drilling activity. Scanning was conducted at the RRC Q-well log library and typically ' oc urred 5 days a week during much of the work year. A summary of FY18 geophysical log scanning is as follows: County Q-Log Folders Sea ns of Logs Scurry Ql to Q692 690 Brazoria Ql to Ql,346 1,239 Montgomery Ql to Q446 437 Waller Ql to Q200 193 Crosby Qlto Q110 102 Young Ql to Ql,547 1,540 Jefferson Ql to Q836 827 Archer Ql to Q780 772 Hidalgo Ql to Q880 873 Wichita QltoQ scanning in progress Stephens Ql 1to Q980 970 Nolan Ql toQ scanning in progress Reeves (additions) Q647 to Q729 45 1/ u u LJ SURFACE CASING ESTIMATOR SITE Data sets for the following 8 counties were added to the Surface Casing Estimator Site this work ye r: Culberson, Reeves, Loving, Pecos, Cochran, Hockley, and Irion of West Texas and Refugio of the Te as Gulf Coastal Plain. Work to construct the data sets involved (l) collection of available data and di ital files for county surveys and abstracts, county boundaries, previous surface-casing re ommendations, well-location maps, ground elevations, and subsurface and surface geology; (2) er ation of a GIS project using standard ArcMap software; (3) creation ~f digital-elevation-model grids for gr und elevations; (4) review of study-area geology and groundwater units with Surface Casing Team staff, an designation of critical stratigraphic intervals, horizons, and aquifers; (5) study of geologic data, ge physical logs, and location of wells, and construction of digital files for well locations; (6) construction of data spreadsheets and GIS attribute tables for study intervals, horizons, and aquifers; (7) construction of GIS contour grids for study intervals and of horizon and shapefile layers for well locations and aquifer-re ommendation areas; and (8) review of data layers through evaluation of layer-overlap techniques and Contour-grid image files and point and polygon shapefiles have been added and programmed into Surface Casing Estimator Site using the ArcGIS Server so that this year's data could be merged with the si e's existing data. This year's work for the estimator site also included upgrades related to the p ogramming of data sets and to the website server, and routine maintena.nce. The GIS contour grids of study-interval elevations for the 7 West Texas counties incorporates in ormation from the RRC Groundwater Advisory Unit (GAU) data files, which include data from 761 Q-well r cords and geophysical logs as well as more than 1,200 records for surface-casing r commendations/protection depths (SCRP), salt-water disposal (SWD), and Capitan Limestone depths. The e timator site also displays more than 600 geophysical logs of the Q-well collection for these 7 counties, which required study of different horizons.because the areas span different parts of West Texas. Geologic h rizons studied within parts of these counties include the following: bases of shallow aquifers (Ogallala, C etaceous, and Lia pan deposits); base of Cretaceous rocks; base of Santa Rosa Formation; top and base of R stler Formation; top and base of Capitan Limestone; top and base of the San Andres Formation; and the b se of underground sources of drinking water (USDW). Geology of the 5-county study area comprising Pecos, Reeves, Loving, and Culberson Counties is c mplex, as evidenced within studies by Ogilbee and Wesselman (1962), Ashworth (1990), Standen and o hers (2009), Ewing and others (20!2), and Meyer and others (2012). Structural complexities within the a ea's strata exist because of tectonism as well as possible local evaporate dissolution and related s bsidence. Lateral stratigraphic complexities also exist because of fades changes within units. The e timator site meets its goal of providing estimated depths of important groundwater horizons based on the a ailable RRC GAU data sets and images of representative geophysical logs, although there are areas where t e data may not be abundant enough to completely address existing geologic complexities. Collecting u [j LJ [j sev ral estimates from the estimator site across an area of interest and viewing geophysical logs of nearby wells may aid in identifying areas of geologic complexity. The GIS contour-elevation grids of the study intervals for Refugio County of the Texas Gulf Coastal Pia n were constructed using RRC GAU data files from 154 Q-well records and geophysical logs, as well as 21 records for SCRP and SWD. The estimator site also displays 93 geophysical logs for this county. Study ho izons for Refugio County include the bases of fresh water, usable-quality water, and USDW. FUTURE WORK Future work includes scanning of geophysical Q-logs for 12 counties: Collingsworth, Fisher, Fort Be d, Garza, Goliad, Jackson, Kent, Mitchell, Nueces, Starr, Stonewall, and Victoria. The Bureau will also ne d to scan Q-well logs for Hemphill County, one of the counties to be interpreted. Planned int rpretive work for Surface Casing Estimator Site data sets involves 8 counties within different parts of th state: Harris, Hemphill, Hutchinson, Lipscomb, Montgomery, Ochiltree, Roberts, and Waller. Sc eduling to determine which counties will have data interpreted and which will have logs scanned sh uld be kept flexible to meet changes in priorities that may occur during a work year. Upgrades to the w bsite and server are also periodic tasks. REFERENCES A hworth, J. B., 1990, Evaluation of ground-water resources in parts of Loving, Pecos, Reeves, Ward, and Winkler counties, Texas: Texas Water Development Board, Report 317, 51 p. E ing, J. E., Kelley, V. A., Jones, T. L., Yan, T., Singh, A., Powers, D. W., Holt, R. M., and Sharp, J. M., 2012, G oundwater availability model report for the Rustler aquifer: Texas Water Development Board, 460 p. 0 ilbee, W., and Wesselman, J. B., 1962, Geology and ground-water resources of Reeves County, Texas: T xas Water Commission, Bulletin 6214, v. 1, 191 p. eyer, J. E., Wise, M. R., and Kalswad, S., 2012, Pecos Valley aquifer, west Texas: structure and brackish g oundwater: Texas Water Development Board, Report 382, 95 p. S anden, A., Finch, S., Williams, R., and Lee-Brand, B., 2009, Capitan reef complex structure and s ratigraphy: Texas Water Development Board, Contracted Report No. 0804830794, 71 p. r-----1-- l -I Figure 1. Counties with Q-logs scanned during FY18 (green) and during previous work years (orange) . Counties with scanning to be completed by August 2018 are shown in red . Figure 2. Counties completed for Surface Casing Estimator Site during FY18 study (orange) and during previous work years (yellow). 

Final Report for the FY18 Surface Casing Estimator Site Project

https://repositories.lib.utexas.edu/bitstreams/adb588d9-05b9-4abb-b009-b196c760272a/download

Final Report for the FY18 Surface Casing Estimator Site Project

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

Texas ScholarWorks