17 One Century of Oil and Gas in the Permian Basin

Times, colleagues, tools, and technology have all changed over the past 100 years. The professionalism and comradery of geologists in the Permian Basin remains. Historical perspectives to help innovate for the future.

Sunday, 19 October 2025
8:00 AM - 12:00 PM
HBGCC, 302A

Discovery of the Permian Basin and Early Oil Field discoveries

Paper number: 17-2
Program: Technical Sessions
Time: 8:25 AM – 8:40 AM

Authors

Abstract

 

Discovery of the Permian Basin and

Early Oil Field Discoveries

 

Robert F. Lindsay

Lindsay Consulting, LLC

Affiliate Professor Brigham Young University

Adjunct Professor University of Texas Permian Basin

 

Robert C. Trentham

University of Texas Permian Basin

 

1850’s expeditions to the Guadalupe Mountains of West Texas and southeastern New Mexico discovered the mountain range was composed of Permian age strata, with regional dip to the east. In Central Texas Permian age strata were identified, with regional dip of strata to the west. Between the Guadalupe Mountains and Central Texas was a depositional basin of Permian age covered by younger strata. Initially the basin was called the West Texas Permian Basin. Now it is called the Permian Super Basin.

In 1855-59 Captain John Pope drilled the first wells in the Permian Basin, not for oil, but in search of artesian water for steam locomotives along a proposed railroad route.

Oil seeps and initial shallow non-commercial oil production captivated explorationists’ minds, with the prospect of discoveries of commercial quantities of oil.

In June 1920, the first discovery of commercial oil was made at Westbrook field on the Eastern Shelf of the Permian Basin. Upper Clear Fork Formation was the reservoir. In the first year Westbrook produced 50,000 BO.

This was followed on May 28, 1923, with the discovery of Big Lake field on the Ozona Arch at the southern end of the Midland Basin. Grayburg Formation was the reservoir. In the first 1.5 years Big Lake produced 1,000,000 BO.

On April 9, 1924, Artesia field was discovered on the Northwest Shelf. Grayburg Formation was the reservoir.

These three initial discoveries in Lower to Middle Permian strata opened a vast exploration play. However, little was known about the subsurface geology of the West Texas Permian Basin.

On December 1, 1928, the deepest well in the world, Texon University B-1, was drilled in Big Lake field and made a deep discovery in Early Ordovician Ellenberger strata. Discovery of deep reservoir potential in the Permian Basin opened the complete Paleozoic stratigraphic column throughout the basin to exploration. And as they say, “The rest is History.”

Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs. Vol. 57, No. 6

doi: 10.1130/abs/2025AM-412953

© Copyright 2025 The Geological Society of America (GSA), all rights reserved. Permission is hereby granted to the author(s) of this abstract to reproduce and distribute it freely, for noncommercial purposes. Permission is hereby granted to any individual scientist to download a single copy of this electronic file and reproduce up to 20 paper copies for noncommercial purposes advancing science and education, including classroom use, providing all reproductions include the complete content shown here, including the author information. All other forms of reproduction and/or transmittal are prohibited without written permission from GSA Copyright Permissions.