Entering Search Criteria

Choosing a Field: Under the words “Search Field”, click on the down arrow on the right hand side of the box to see the search choices in a drop-down list. If API Number, Permit ID, Well Name, Location, or Operator is selected from the “Search Field” box then a value must be entered in the “Value” box. For all other choices selected from the “Search Field” box, a drop-down list is provided in the “Value” box. See the Tips for Searching section below for information and help on entering values into the “Value” box.

Types of Searches: There are three search selections that may be performed by selecting one of the radio buttons next to the words “Simple,” “AND,” and “OR.”

• Simple Search: A simple search only searches on one condition. For example, a single county name. By default, the simple search is selected.
• Entering Two Conditions: When choosing “AND” or “OR,” a second condition can be entered in the lower “Search Field” and “Value” boxes. This allows for combinations of searches.
  • AND Search: An “AND” search is based on two conditions. For example, a search by Well Type equals Oil AND Well Status equals Producing returns records of all producing oil wells. Both conditions must be true for the search to return results.
  • OR Search: An “OR” search looks for records that match either of the values entered as search criteria. For example, a search by Well Type equals Oil OR Well Type equals Gas returns records in which the well type contains Oil or Gas. Only one of the conditions needs to be true to return results.

Wildcard symbol: A wildcard character is a special character that represents one or more other characters. The wildcard symbol used in this application is the “%” sign. Searches can contain the wildcard character when entering partial values in the “Value” box. The wildcard character enables you to control your search more effectively. The wildcard “%” can be used in any of the text searches. See below for examples on wildcard usage.

Tips for Searching

API Number: The American Petroleum Institute (API) number is a unique, permanent, numeric identifier assigned to each well drilled for oil and gas in the United States. An example of an API number from a South Dakota well is 40 063 20501. The first two digits represent the state code, which for South Dakota is "40." The next three digits are county codes from the Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) and identify the South Dakota county in which that particular well is located. The next five digits are the well identifier, which is a number unique to each well. Where applicable, an additional two numbers follow the well identifier, for example 40 063 20501 01, and indicate that the original well has been modified (typically re-entered) and given an extended API number representing the modified portion of the well.

When entering the API number in the “Value” box a space MUST be used after the state code AND after the county code. A space will also be needed after the five digit well identification number if the 2 digit number is known for the modified portion of that well. Note that when searching by the full API number you will only get one result.

• For example:
• Entering 40 063 20501 will return a single record containing information only associated with API 40 063 20501.
• Entering 40 063 20501 01 will return a single record containing information only associated with API 40 063 20501 01, which is the re-entered portion of the well.

A wildcard can be used to obtain all records associated with the root API number.

• For example:
• Entering 40 063 20501% will return two records, one record will contain information on 40 063 20501 and the other record will contain information on 40 063 20501 01.

Partial API numbers can be searched for by typing any number of characters in the “Value” box including a leading and/or a following wildcard (%).

• Entering 40 063 205% will return all records, for the specified county of 063, in which the identifier portion of the API number contains 205 as the first three digits (e.g., 20501, 20501 01, 20502, 20502 01, 20503, etc.).
• Entering 40 063%40% will return all records, for the specified county of 063, in which anywhere in the five digit well identifier portion of the API number contains a 4 followed by a 0.

Permit ID: For newer permits, the Permit ID is a four digit number assigned to each permit.

Location: The legal description of a well location using a modified version of the Public Land Survey
System’s format. The location, for database search purposes, only includes township, range and section.
To search by location, enter a legal description in the “Value” box with up to 9 characters and NO delimiter
(comma, slash, or hyphen). Letters do not have to be upper-case. Note that you cannot search by
quarter-quarter section.

• For example:
• Entering 023N04E21 finds all well locations within township 23 north, range 4 east and section 21.

Partial locations can be searched for by typing any number of characters in the “Value” box including a leading and/or a following wildcard (%).

• For example:


• 023N04E% finds all well locations within township 23 north, range 4 east.
• 023N% or 23N% finds all well locations within township 23 north.
• 04E% or 4E% finds all well locations within range 4 east.
• %23% finds all well locations containing a 23 anywhere within the legal description (i.e., township, range, or section).

Well Name or Operator: When searching by well name or operator it is typically best to use a wildcard
with one or more words because the format in which the well name or operator is written can vary
between paper copy files and digital databases.

For example:

• Entering %federal% in the “Value” box would return all of the well records in which the word Federal is in the well name. Note that letters do not need to be upper-cased.

UIC Permitted Wells: Selecting UIC Permitted Wells from the “Search Field” box drop-down list will
return all wells currently permitted for UIC purposes. No value can be entered into the “Values” box.