Douglas K. Strickland
Douglas K. Strickland was an accomplished and renowned exploration geologist, recognized for his efforts in the central Utah Hingeline play. Mr. Strickland co-taught AAPG’s Creativity in Exploration course with E.A. “Ted” Beaumont for several years. He also received AAPG’s Outstanding Explorer Award in April at the association’s Annual Convention and Exhibition in Houston in 2011. Mr. Strickland received the award for being principle discoverer of the Covenant field in Sevier County, Utah, the initial discovery within the central Utah Overthrust Belt in 2004, and subsequently Utah’s Providence Field. The fields comprise a 100-million-barrel province in an area the U.S. Geological Survey had deemed without any petroleum potential, and which was 200 miles from the nearest production.
Education and career
Strickland joined Chevron after earning a doctorate at the University of Kansas, previously receiving a bachelor’s degree from the University of Southern Colorado and master’s from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. He was working the Rockies’ Overthrust Belt for Chevron when he joined W.R. Grace and made discoveries in Oklahoma, North Dakota and California as well as the Madden Deep well in the Wyoming Overthrust. He continued finding oil and gas as an independent and joined with Wolverine Gas & Oil to get his central Utah prospects drilled. After Wolverine’s discovery of the Covenant Field in Utah, Strickland founded Jayden Consulting LLC. Strickland died unexpectedly at his home May 4, 2011 after an illness. He was 58. Prior to his death, he was exploring in the emerging Alberta Basin Bakken Shale play east of Glacier National Park, via his company, Red Rock Resources LLC of Oklahoma City.
Covenant Field
The Covenant field and work leading to its discovery has been presented by Strickland at several AAPG Conferences. A video of one such paper titled, “Conventional Wisdom: A Different Approach—Exploration in the Central Utah Thrust Belt” was presented at the AAPG 2009 conference in Denver, Colorado, and is available on SearchAndDiscovery.
External links
- Strickland's video presentation: Conventional Wisdom: A Different Approach—Exploration in the Central Utah Thrust Belt
- PDF of Strickland's slideshow
- AAPG Explorer article
References
- Schelling, D. D., D. K. Strickland, K. R. Johnson, & J. P. Vrona, 2007, Central Utah: Diverse Geology of a Dynamic Landscape, in Structural Geology of the Central Utah Thrust Belt, Utah Geological Association, pp. 1-29.
- Chidsey, T. C. Jr., J. S. DeHamer, E. E. Hartwick, K. R. Johnson, D. D. Schelling, D. A. Sprinkel, D. K. Strickland, J. P. Vrona, & D. A. Wavrek, 2007, Petroleum Geology of Covenant Oil Field, Central Utah Thrust Belt, in Utah Geological Association