More than 350 well logs and core and production data were used to geologically characterize oil reservoirs of the Driver waterflood unit of the Spraberry Trend in the Midland Basin, West Texas, and to assess the relationship between reservoir stratigraphy and oil recovery.

Natural gas in the United States consists of proved reserves in known reservoirs, of inferred reserves and undeveloped resources within these reservoirs, and of undiscovered resources. Other than proved reserves, all volumes of future natural gas supply are estimates based on information derived from past and current experience in gas production and reservoir development. Even proved reserves are subject to periodic revision.

The Ogallala aquifer, which underlies the Southern High Plains, consists of the saturated sediments of the Neogene Ogallala Formation. The aquifer is the main source of water for the High Plains of Texas and New Mexico and is being severely depleted by extensive pumpage for irrigation. Contamination from evaporating saline lakes, agricultural chemicals and fertilizers, and oil field brines is locally affecting the chemical composition of Ogallala ground water.

Barbers Hill salt dome, located in the Texas Coastal Plain near Houston, has a long history of resource exploitation, including oil and brine production, storage of hydrocarbons in solution-mined caverns within the salt stock, and disposal of brine into the cap rock. Industrial and municipal facilities are concentrated over the dome, and large amounts of ground water are produced within 12 mi (20 km) of the structure. Subsurface data from closely spaced petroleum, brine-disposal, and water wells were used in characterizing near-dome hydrogeology at Barbers Hill.