Metadata for Appendices 9.2 and 9.3

USGS Professional Paper 1713, Chapter 9 

Petroleum Systems of the San Joaquin Basin Province: 
Geochemical Characteristics of Oil Types by Paul G. Lillis 
and Leslie B. Magoon

The Crude Oil Analysis (COA) database contains the digital 
data compilation of 9,076 crude oil analyses from samples 
collected from 1920 through 1983 from the United States and 
around the world and analyzed by the United States Bureau 
of Mines (National Institute for Petroleum and Energy 
Research, 1995). Two laboratories (Bartlesville, Oklahoma, 
and Laramie, Wyoming) performed routine crude oil analyses 
by a standardized method, and the data were originally 
reported in more than 50 reports by the Bureau of Mines. 
Analyses include specific gravity, API gravity, pour point, 
viscosity, sulfur content, nitrogen content, and color of 
the crude oil, as well as the bulk properties of the 
distillation cuts.  

The data were digitized in the late 1970s and a database 
retrieval system was implemented in 1980 and made available 
to the public. The Department of Energy (DOE) updated this 
system in 1995-96 with public access through a dial-up 
bulletin board system. The database was operated by the 
National Institute for Petroleum and Energy Research 
(NIPER) in Bartlesville, Oklahoma. A stand-alone version of 
the database (COADB) was available in 1995 in the form of a 
series of tables in Foxpro (.dbf) format. In 1998, an 
updated version of COADB was available on the NIPER website 
(http://www.npto.doe.gov/Software/dbindx.html) that 
included a Microsoft Access 97 version of the database 
called "coadb.mdb".  The file contains more tables than the 
original 1995 version but we believe the number of oil 
samples and the amount of raw data are the same. The 
additional tables contain text translations for codes used 
in other tables regarding color, county, laboratory, 
formation, geologic age, lithology, and state name. Sample 
location information is generally inadequate to identify 
the specific well in most cases. The sample location 
information lacks lease name and in many cases well number 
and section-township-range. In rare cases, the latitude and 
longitude are given. 

Queries in the 1998 version of the COA database were used 
to generate appendices 9.2 and 9.3. Appendix 9.2 was 
derived from a query of all California crude oil analyses 
in COA. No modifications were made to sample information. 
We interpret the basin name based on county and field name. 
Appendix 9.3 was constructed for oils from San Joaquin 
Basin. Field names were modified, and area, pool and zone 
names were added to conform to the State of California, 
Department of Conservation usage (CDOGGR, 1998). Some 
corrections were made to formation names and ages, but were 
not modified to comply with USGS geologic name standards.  
We interpret oil types on the basis of API gravity, sulfur 
content, pour point, reservoir age, and field.

Column codes and translations are:
SAMPLE_ID = oil sample number
DLAB_CODE = laboratory code (B=Bartlesville, L=Laramie)
STCTNAME = state name
CNTYNAME = county name
FIELD_NAME = oil and gas field name
FORM_NAME = producing formation name
GEOL_AGE = producing formation age
DEPTH_TOP = depth in feet to top of production
DEPTH_BOT = depth in feet to bottom of production
WELL_NO = well number
LOCATION = well location in section 
SECTION = section number of well location  
TOWNSHIP = township of well location
RANGE = range of well location
COMPLETION = well completion date
LONGITUDE	LATITUDE 
OTHER
API_CRUDE = API gravity
SRC = sulfur content, weight percent
POUR_POINT = pour point, degrees Fahrenheit
COLOUR = oil color code ( GB = greenish brown, DG = dark 
green, BL = black, BG= brownish green, BB = brownish black, 
-1 = null)