As part of the Department of Energy's Class III Oil Recovery Field Demonstration Program, The University of Texas Bureau of Economic Geology (BEG) and Conoco, Inc, will demonstrate the utility of reservoir characterization-accurate, detailed description of oil reservoir conditions-in designing cost-effective drilling and recovery processes that could increase production and prevent abandonment of oil reservoirs in mature West Texas fields The project will compare reservoir performance in Iwo representative Delaware Basin fields, followed by a demonstration project in one, Only 26% of the original oil in place has been recovered from the Geraldine Ford Field, and less than 5% from the Ford West Field, which produces from a different rock formation, Delaware Mountain Group reservoirs present problems in both exploration and production-the oil is contained in small, thin sandstone lenses encased in impervious siltstones, creating isolated, untapped and poorly drained compartments scattered throughout most of the fields More accurate knowledge of the spacing, size and interconnected drainage between these oil reservoir "pods" would increase the operators'ability to design more effective drilling and production strategies, BEG and Conoco are using state-of-the-art seismic, well, imaging, outcrop and production data and computer simulation to provide a detailed reservoir model of the Iwo fields Predictive models derived from comparison of producibility differences related to reservoir rock variations will assist the design and implementation of geologically targeted infill drilling to contact isolated oil-bearing lenses and the use of an enhanced oil recovery process-either carbon dioxide, polymer, or waterflooding-to achieve optimum production, As of early 1996, the 3-D seismic data has been acquired and analysis is underway, Reservoir characterization has started with the gathering of wireline log and core data and construction of a data base,