U.S. Department of the Interior

U.S. Geological Survey

Fact Sheet 2015–3054

September 2015

National and Global Petroleum Assessment Project

Assessment of Undiscovered Oil and Gas Resources in the Cherokee 

Platform Province Area of Kansas, Oklahoma, and Missouri, 2015

ISSN 2327-6916 (print) ISSN 2327-6932 (online)

http://dx.doi.org/10.3133/fs20153054

Using a geology-based assessment methodology, 

the U.S. Geological Survey estimated mean volumes 

of undiscovered, technically recoverable resources 

of 463 million barrels of oil, 11.2 trillion cubic feet of 

gas, and 35 million barrels of natural gas liquids in the 

Cherokee Platform Province area of Kansas, Oklahoma, 

and Missouri.

Woodford Shale Oil AU covers parts of southeastern Kansas and northeastern Oklahoma. 

Most production in this AU has been from 

oil accumulations in the southwestern part of 

the AU. The Desmoinesian Coalbed Gas AU 

boundary is defined by Desmoinesian outcrop 

(East, 2013), net coal thickness (Peterson and 

Jacobs, 1997), and borehole data (Cherokee 

Group coalbed stratigraphic tops data from 

IHS Energy, 2014). Most gas production 

from this AU is from Montgomery, Wilson, 

Neosho, and Labette Counties in Kansas, and 

Nowata, Washington, and Osage Counties 

in Oklahoma (IHS Energy, 2014) (fig. 1). 

Within the Desmoinesian Coalbed Gas AU, 

a sweet spot area was delineated based a 

10 foot or greater net coal thickness.

Introduction

As part of the U.S. Geological Survey’s (USGS) 

National and Global Petroleum Assessment Project, the 

USGS completed an assessment of the conventional and 

continuous (unconventional) oil and gas resources in the 

area of the Cherokee Platform Province (fig. 1). The area 

lies in southeastern Kansas, northeastern Oklahoma, and 

southwestern Missouri. This assessment is based on the 

geologic characteristics of each total petroleum system 

(TPS) defined in this assessment. These geologic characteristics include information on the hydrocarbon source rocks, 

reservoir rocks, and hydrocarbon traps. In this study, three 

TPSs were defined and within these three are four assessment units (AUs). The assessment input data for each AU 

are shown in table 1.

Total Petroleum Systems

Three TPSs were defined for the Cherokee 

Platform Province area: (1) Paleozoic Composite TPS, 

(2) Woodford/Chattanooga TPS, and (3) Desmoinesian 

Coal TPS (table 2). The primary hydrocarbon source 

rock for the Paleozoic Composite TPS is the Woodford/

Chattanooga Shale. Additional minor sources of hydrocarbons include Middle Ordovician shale and limestone 

and thin Middle and Upper Pennsylvanian marine black 

shale. Both the Woodford/Chattanooga TPS and the 

Desmoinesian Coal TPS are self-sourced. The Paleozoic 

Composite TPS contains conventional hydrocarbon 

resources, whereas the Woodford/Chattanooga Shale and 

Desmoinesian Coal TPSs contain continuous resources.

Assessment Units

The four AUs identified in this assessment 

include: (1) Paleozoic Conventional AU, (2) Woodford 

Biogenic Gas AU, (3) Woodford Shale Oil AU, and 

(4) Desmoinesian Coalbed Gas AU (fig. 1). The oldest producing well in the Paleozoic Conventional AU was drilled 

in 1900, and most of the historical production has been 

from sandstone reservoirs in the Middle Pennsylvanian 

Cherokee Group (Nehring Associates, 2014). The 

Woodford Biogenic Gas AU is located in the east-central 

portion of the Cherokee Platform Province and is restricted 

to where the Woodford/Chattanooga Shale is at depths 

of 1,250 feet or shallower. Most of the gas produced from 

this AU has been from Wagoner County, Oklahoma. The 

Figure 1. Location of the Cherokee Platform Province 5060 and the conventional and continuous 

oil and gas assessment unit boundaries. [AU, assessment unit; WG, Wagoner County; OS, Osage 

County; WA, Washington County; NO, Nowata County; WL, Wilson County; NO, Neosho County; 

MG, Montgomery County; LB, Labette County]

Resource Summary

The USGS methodology for predicting undiscovered volumes of hydrocarbons 

(Charpentier and Cook, 2011) was used to 

quantitatively assess oil and gas resources in 

one conventional AU and three continuous 

AUs in the Cherokee Platform Province area 

(table 2). Total mean volumes of conventional 

resources in the Paleozoic Conventional AU 

are 3 million barrels of oil (MMBO), 140 billion cubic feet of gas (BCFG), and 4 million 

barrels of natural gas liquids (MMBNGL). 

For the three continuous AUs, the total mean 

volumes are 460 MMBO (continuous oil), 

11,104 BCFG (shale gas, biogenic gas, and 

coalbed gas), and 31 MMBNGL.

Source: U.S. National Park Service

Last modified: March 1, 2015

Geographic Coordinate System, WGS 1984

–98° –97° –96° –95° –94°

38°

37°

36°

35°

34°

0 25 50 MILES

0 25 50 KILOMETERS

WL NO

MG

WA

WG

OS NO

LB

OKLAHOMA

KANSAS

MISSOURI

ARKANSAS

CHEROKEE PLATFORM

PROVINCE 5060

Woodford Biogenic Gas

AU 50600262

Woodford Shale Oil

AU 50600261

Paleozoic Conventional

AU 50600301

Desmoinesian 

Coalbed Gas

AU 50600181

Cherokee Platform Province 5060

Woodford Biogenic Gas AU 50600262

Woodford Shale Oil AU 50600261

Desmoinesian Coalbed Gas AU 50600181

Paleozoic Conventional AU 50600301

EXPLANATION

TEXAS

KANSAS MISSOURI

OKLAHOMA

ARKANSAS

Mississippi

Area

of study
References Cited

Charpentier, R.R., and Cook, T.A., 2011, USGS methodology for assessing continuous petroleum resources: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2011–1167, 

75 p., available at http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2011/1167/.

East, J.A., 2013, Coal fields of the conterminous United States—National coal 

resource assessment updated version: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File 

Report 2012–1205, 1 sheet, scale 1:5,000,000, available at http://pubs.usgs.gov/

of/2012/1205/.

IHS Energy, 2014, International petroleum exploration and production 

database [current through December 2014]: Available from IHS Energy, 

15 Inverness Way East, Englewood, CO 80112.

Nehring Associates, Inc., 2014 [data current as of December 2014], The significant 

oil and gas fields of the United States: Database available from Nehring Associates, Inc., P.O. Box 1655, Colorado Springs, CO 80901. 

Peterson, K., and Jacobs, L.M., 1997, Coalbed methane, a viable resource—Osage 

Mineral Estate: Oklahoma City Geological Society Shale Shaker, v. 48, p. 67–78.

Table 1. Key assessment input data for the three continuous and one conventional assessment units in the Cherokee Platform Province area. 

[EUR (estimated ultimate recovery per well); MMBO, million barrels of oil; BCFG, billion cubic feet of gas; AU, assessment unit, %, percent. The average EUR input 

is the minimum, median, maximum, and calculated mean]

Assessment input data

Woodford Shale Oil AU Minimum Mode Maximum Calculated mean

Potential production area of AU (acres) 3,000,000 6,000,000 11,500,000 6,833,333

Average drainage area of wells (acres) 120 160 200 160

Percentage of total AU area that is untested (%) 96 98 100 98.0

Success ratio (%) 15 30 50 31.7

Average EUR (MMBO) 0.02 0.03 0.12 0.035

Woodford Biogenic Gas AU Minimum Mode Maximum Calculated mean

Potential production area of AU (acres) 100,000 350,000 2,480,000 976,667

Average drainage area of wells (acres) 60 80 100 80

Percentage of total AU area that is untested (%) 90 95 100 95.0

Success ratio (%) 10 30 50 30.0

Average EUR (BCFG) 0.06 0.11 0.3 0.12

Desmoinesian Coalbed Gas AU Minimum Mode Maximum Calculated mean

Potential production area of AU (acres) 5,000,000 5,500,000 16,976,000 9,158,667

Average drainage area of wells (acres) 60 80 160 100

Percentage of total AU area that is untested (%) 88 92 96 92.0

Percentage of untested AU area in sweet spots (%) 50 90 95 78.3

Success ratio (%) in sweet spots 75 85 95 85.0

Average EUR (MMBO) in sweet spots 0.06 0.15 0.6 0.175

Success ratio (%) in nonsweet spots 5 10 20 11.7

Average EUR (MMBO) in nonsweet spots 0.03 0.1 0.5 0.122

Undiscovered fields

Paleozoic Conventional AU Minimum Mode Maximum Calculated mean

Number of oil fields 1 3 10 3.2

Number of gas fields 1 15 40 15.8

Sizes of oil fields (MMBO) 0.5 0.8 3 0.9

Sizes of gas fields (BCFG) 3 7 60 8.7

Table 2. Assessment results for conventional and continuous oil and gas resources in the Cherokee Platform Province area. [MMBO, million barrels of oil; 

BCFG, billion cubic feet of gas; MMBNGL, million barrels of natural gas liquids; TPS, total petroleum system; AU, assessment unit. Results shown are fully risked 

estimates. For gas accumulations, all liquids are included under the NGL (natural gas liquids) category. F95 represents a 95 percent chance of at least the amount 

tabulated. Other fractiles are defined similarly. Fractiles are additive under the assumption of perfect positive correlation. Shading indicates not applicable]

Total Petroleum Systems (TPSs)

and

Assessment Units (AUs)

AU 

probability

Accumulation 

type

Total undiscovered resources

Oil (MMBO) Gas (BCFG) NGL (MMBNGL)

F95 F50 F5 Mean F95 F50 F5 Mean F95 F50 F5 Mean

Desmoinesian Coal TPS

Desmoinesian Coalbed Gas AU 1.0 Gas 4,123 8,691 20,590 10,044 4 18 61 23

Woodford/Chattanooga TPS

Woodford Shale Oil AU 1.0 Oil 195 403 924 460 246 553 1,345 644 2 6 16 7

Woodford Biogenic Gas AU 1.0 Gas 90 341 993 416 0 0 2 1

Total continuous resources 195 403 924 460 4,459 9,585 22,928 11,104 6 24 79 31

Paleozoic Composite TPS

Paleozoic Conventional AU 1.0 Oil 1 3 5 3 0 2 8 3 0 0 0 0

 Gas 72 130 229 137 2 4 7 4

Total conventional resources 1 3 5 3 72 132 237 140 2 4 7 4

Total undiscovered resources 196 406 929 463 4,531 9,717 23,165 11,244 8 28 86 35

For Further Information

Assessment results are available at the USGS 

Central Energy Resources Science Center Web site: 

http://energy.cr.usgs.gov/oilgas/noga/.

Cherokee Platform Province Assessment Team

Ronald M. Drake II (task leader; rmdrake@usgs.gov),

Joseph R. Hatch, Christopher J. Schenk, Ronald R. 

Charpentier, Timothy R. Klett, Phuong A. Le, Heidi M. 

Leathers, Michael E. Brownfield, Stephanie B. Gaswirth, 

Kristen R. Marra, Janet K. Pitman, Christopher J. Potter, 

and Marilyn E. Tennyson.