Explanation of Database Fields and Terms

The Class and Type fields help differentiate between wells that have been 

permitted and drilled (or not drilled), and various well types. The status 

field contains the current status of the permit or well. The following is an 

explanation of the terms and acronyms contained in these fields.

Class: When a permit to drill is issued, this field contains New 

Permit. Otherwise, this field contains the following well 

classifications. Oil, Gas, UIC (Underground Injection 

Control), Dry Hole (a plugged well with no show of oil 

or gas), and Never Drilled.

Type: This field may contain the same data as the Class field 

(such as New Permit, Oil, Gas, and Dry Hole), but also 

contains types of wells for each well class, such as:

Oil – Oil Show, Horizontal, Horizontal Reentry, Stripper 

(produces less than 10 barrels oil per day), Never 

Produced.

Gas – Gas Show, Stripper (produces less than 60,000 cu. 

ft. gas per day), Never Produced.

UIC – Air, Air Horizontal, Water, Water Horizontal, 

Water Supply, SWD (salt water disposal).

Status: This field contains the current status or designation of the 

permit or well, such as:

New Permit (permit issued, but well not drilled yet)

New Well (well has been drilled, but current status 

unknown).

Never Drilled 

Producing (oil or gas)

Injecting (air, water, or gas)

Reentered (well has been deepened, re-drilled, plugged 

back, or drilled horizontally, is considered a separate well 

and is issued a new API no. and permit no.).

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TA (temporarily abandoned)

P&A (plugged and abandoned)

RMW (reservoir monitoring well)

Converted or Supply (converted to water supply well)

Private (ownership and use of the well, typically water 

with associated natural gas, transferred to a private entity, 

usually the landowner, for personal use).

API No API Number is the unique identifying characteristic of a 

well, and is in a format able to be nationally unique. The 

format is as follows:

STATE COUNTY WELL_NO

 State is the South Dakota State Code and is always 

"40." 

 County is the FIPS County Code and is an odd 

number applying to a county arranged in 

alphabetical order. 

 Well Number is a five digit number that is unique 

for each well within South Dakota. 

Example: 40 047 20082

Location: Location is the actual physical location of a well, 

adhering to a certain standard. The format for the standard 

in this particular database is set up as follows:

QUARTER SECTION-TOWNSHIP-RANGE

Example: NWSW 34-21N-4E

Formation, 

Bottom Hole:

Formation Tops:

1st Leo

2nd Leo

3rd Leo

4th Leo

5th Leo

Atoka

Bakken

Belfield

Bell

Bottom Holes:

Cassa

Dakota

Muddy

Roundtop

Skull River

+ all the formation tops

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Belle Fourche

Big Snowy

Cannon Bal

Canyon Springs

Carlile

Charles

Converse

Dakota Mud

Deadwood

Duperow

Eagle

Englewood

Fall River

Forelle

Fox Hills

Ft Union

Glendo

Goose Egg

Graneros

Greenhorn

Greenpoint

Gunton

Hell Creek

Interlake

Inyan Kara

Kibbey

Lakota

Lodge Pole

Ludlow

Madison

Minnekahta

Minnelusa

Mission Canyon

Morrison

Mowry

Newcastle

Niobrara

Nisku

Opeche

Pierre

Pine Salt

Piper

Precambrian

Red Marker

Red River

Red River1

Red River2

Red River3

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Red River4

Shannon

Skull Creek

Souris Riv

Spearfish

Stonewall

Stoney Mountain

Sundance

Three Forks

Tongue River

Unkpapa

Whitewood

Winnipeg

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