West Sussex Energy Partners · OGM-003 · Wyoming edition
Editorial update: October 16, 2026. General educational information.
Wyoming petroleum basins contain different formations, structural conditions and development histories. Geological maps and resource assessments describe potential reservoirs, not mineral title, recoverable reserves for a particular tract or guaranteed production; identify the source and date of each map.
How Wyoming’s petroleum basins formed
Most major Wyoming oil and gas basins are related to Late Cretaceous–early Eocene mountain building. Basement-involved uplift and faulting helped create the Powder River, Wind River, Bighorn, Greater Green River, Denver, Hanna, Laramie and other basins. Basin boundaries describe large geological provinces; they do not establish title, lease terms, development obligations or payable royalties.
A petroleum system has several independent elements
A source rock must contain suitable organic material and have experienced an appropriate burial and thermal history. Generated hydrocarbons must reach a porous and permeable reservoir or remain recoverable within a low-permeability rock. Traps and seals influence accumulation. Water, pressure, temperature and rock fabric can control producibility. Merely mapping a named formation beneath a tract does not establish commercially recoverable oil or gas.
Powder River and Wind River examples
The Powder River Basin has Cretaceous petroleum systems and a long history of conventional production and newer drilling targets. Wyoming’s first producing oil well, the 1884 Mike Murphy No. 1 at Dallas Dome, is associated with the Wind River Basin. Both basins contain numerous fields and reservoirs, but the reservoir, legal unit and operator history must be evaluated well by well.
Greater Green River and other basins
The Greater Green River region includes the Great Divide and Washakie sub-basins, major gas developments and differing structural and stratigraphic traps. The Bighorn, Denver-Julesburg, Hanna and other basins have their own structures, ages, reservoir packages and transport context. For each mineral holding, identify the correct basin, field, reservoir and mapped legal tract rather than assigning a generic statewide production assumption.
How to read an official geological map
The WSGS interactive oil and gas map displays fields, wells, producing reservoir data, processing facilities, pipelines and selected structural information. Layers change as records are updated; map boundaries are research aids. Use a well’s API identifier or other official well reference to cross-check drilled formation, completion, production history and applicable WOGCC orders.
Illustrative owner investigation
Suppose a family owns undivided minerals under a tract near an old oil field but receives occasional small payments. First identify the deeded tract and producing well; next determine the reservoir and unit to which the tract is attributed; then compare that reservoir with any nearby permitted wells and WSGS formation mapping. Prospective deeper formations are a separate geological issue and do not by themselves prove the operator has an enforceable development right.
Owner workflow
Collect county legal description, recorded deeds and leases, well/API and unit identifiers, historical checkstubs and the applicable agency order. Use WSGS basin pages and its map to learn stratigraphy, and WOGCC records to check actual production and permitting. Label proved historical production, public plans, inferred potential and speculation separately.
Official research sources
WSGS — Wyoming Oil and Gas Basins; WSGS — Oil and Gas Maps and Publications; WSGS — Wind River Basin; Wyoming Oil and Gas Conservation Commission.
Sources and scope
This guide provides general education. Verify effective dates and the application of authorities to the particular facts. Consult the linked official sources and the original deeds, leases, orders and other records before acting. Browsing this guide or sending an inquiry does not create a professional engagement; services require a separate written agreement. Historical accounts, geological assessments and forecasts have distinct limits; none establishes mineral title or guarantees recoverable reserves, value or future royalty.
Reading the sources: Geological basin maps and resource assessments describe subsurface conditions but do not establish mineral title, leases, or producible reserves. Check the original sources before applying this information.
