Only relatively small production seen in basins of far west Texas

This paper reports that trans-Pecos Texas has intrigued and baffled the oil industry since the discovery of oil in the Permian basin. Although production has been established along the southwest flank of the Delaware basin, exploratory efforts have proved fruitless in attempts to extend production to the southwest. Activity usually increases as higher-priced oil provides more risk money and declines as drilling dollars are scarcer. This regional analysis, covering about 48,000 sq miles, attempts to make an unbiased appraisal of the potential of this highly complex area and place any exploratory merit in relationship to other areas falling within the authors' ranges of experience. The authors' data base includes gravity, magnetic, and seismic data together with all available well information and hundreds of published articles and papers.