The Great Basin Science Sample and Records Library (GBSSRL) houses information on Oil & Gas. Materials in the following collections are open for free public viewing during GBSSRL office hours, and the staff will help locate and pull files for a fee. Many related publications are also available through our Publications Sales Office and free online.

 

Well Records

The Nevada Division of Minerals in Carson City (775-684-7040) is the Nevada state permitting and regulatory agency for the oil and gas industry, and all the original records held by the state are archived there. The GBSSRL has copies of all the oil and gas records archived with the NDOM. These records date back to 1953 and commonly contain the completion reports, drill stem test, geologic reports, logs, permit applications, plugging reports, and sundry reports. Regional geophysical logs, data, and reports are not required to be turned in. The GBSSRL also has copies of some records and references to wells older than 1953. The well records are electronically indexed and are also indexed in NBMG Bulletin 104, Oil and Gas Developments in Nevada (lists wells from 1907-1986); NBMG Open-File Report 96-6, Nevada Oil and Gas Wells, 1907-1996, a 1:1,000,000-scale map of Nevada showing well locations; and NBMG Open-File Report 96-6d, a CD-ROM containing digital files and database for map. These can be obtained from the NBMG Publication Sales Office. Production records are filed according to field and separately from the well files and are not indexed. The well records are kept confidential for 6 months after the drilling of a well is completed, and these confidential records are kept at the Nevada Division of Minerals until released. See below for details, but the cuttings for some wells have been sampled and tested, and the results eventually are filed in the appropriate well record file.

The U.S. Bureau of Land Management also has records of oil and gas wells drilled on public land. The Nevada Division of Minerals has copies of most, but not all, of their records.

The GBSSRL keeps unindexed files of miscellaneous articles and reports dealing with the oil and gas industry of the state including some on oil shale deposits and copies of publications of the Nevada Petroleum Society, which can be obtained both from them and from the NBMG Publication Sales Office. NBMG has about 30 publications dealing with various fossil fuel resources mostly in Nevada.

These files and publications are open for free public viewing during GBSSRL office hours, and the staff will help locate and pull files; however, the materials cannot be borrowed directly by the patron. The GBSSRL can do custom searches of the files on request for a fee.

Well Cuttings and Core

Companies drilling oil and gas wells are required by state law to give the state two sets of cuttings. As with the files, cuttings and core are kept confidential for 6 months. For more information this, please contact the Nevada Division of Minerals in Carson City (775-684-7040). The Great Basin Science Sample and Records Library (GBSSRL) is the repository for these cuttings.