TABLE OF CONTENTS In the early days of oil exploration in the United States no specific legislation governed the exploration and exploitation of petroleum. Initially, the courts applied the game laws, which stated that oil and gas were fugacious (likely to flee away), moving from property to property, and ultimately owned by the man on whose land they were trapped (Dott and Reynolds, 1969).
The term trap was first applied to a hydrocarbon accumulation by Orton (1889): stocks of oil and gas might be trapped in the summits of folds or arches found along their way to higher ground. A detailed historical account of the subsequent evolution of the concept and etymology of the term trap is found in Dott and Reynolds (1969).
As discussed in Chapter 1, a trap is one of the five essential requisites for a commercial accumulation of oil or gas. Levorsen (1967) gave a concise definition of a trap as the place where oil and gas are barred from further movement. This definition needs some qualification. Explorationists in general and geophysicists in particular search for hydrocarbon traps. Perhaps it would be more accurate to say that they search for potential traps. Only after drilling and testing is it known whether the trap contains oil or gas. In other words a trap is still a trap whether it is barren or productive.
Many terms are used to describe the various parameters of a trap. These terms are defined...
