Kansas ACO-1 Completion Evidence Study 2026

Kansas ACO-1 Completion Evidence Study 2026: Research question and scope

Kansas Form ACO-1 can anchor a completion chronology because its instructions define operator, well, location, tests, logs, samples, completion details, and first or resumed production fields. Yet a scanned form, a KGS well page, a production observation, and a current status are different evidence. This study describes how to preserve those roles and compare them without turning one form into a complete well history.

The unit of analysis is one public-source observation at one access time. Facts are limited to what the cited publisher or artifact displays. Analysis compares those facts. Inference is labeled and states what additional evidence would confirm it. Uncertainty includes missing images, unclear dates, changing interfaces, conflicting identifiers, and records not exposed online. This study does not determine title, ownership, boundaries, regulatory compliance, engineering sufficiency, environmental condition, or legal effect.

Classify the artifact before extracting facts

Confirm that the file is an ACO-1 and record whether it appears to be a completion, recompletion, workover, or re-entry record according to its own labels. Preserve the full file with retrieval timestamp, byte count, page count, hash, source URL, and the query that located it. A generic filename or detached image is not enough provenance.

The form’s field labels control the transcription. Operator name, lease name, well number, geographic location, county, API number, intervals, tests, logs, samples, and dates should be captured as displayed. If handwriting or scan quality is ambiguous, record the uncertainty rather than silently correcting it from another source.

Keep four date roles distinct

At minimum, separate the form-stated completion date, first or resumed production date, agency filing or receipt date when stated, and researcher access time. A scan timestamp or web upload time is another system observation, not automatically the filing or effective date. Store every label beside its value.

Chronology should be built from source-defined events. For a new completion, first production may follow completion; for a workover or re-entry, the relevant field may describe resumed production. If dates conflict, display both and route the conflict. Do not choose the sequence that seems operationally convenient.

Link supporting materials deliberately

The ACO-1 instructions address drill-stem tests, samples, cores, and electric logs. An indicator that material exists is not the material itself. Create a related-record row for each log, test, core, sample, or attachment located, including its identifier, source, page or file locator, and relationship evidence.

KGS is the state repository for oil and gas records and organizes many materials on well pages. Link a KGS document tab to the completion record using a stable well identifier and coherent location. A matching lease name alone is not sufficient when multiple wells share a lease.

Compare later database observations

After extracting the form, compare the KGS and KCC public observations for identifier, operator, location, status, and relevant dates. A later current status can corroborate the well identity but does not retroactively change what the completion form stated. Preserve differences as a dated comparison.

Production data can provide a later observation of reported activity, but it should not be used to manufacture a missing completion or first-production date. Likewise, an ACO-1 field does not establish title, payment, or continuing regulatory status. Each record answers a narrower question.

Prepare a reviewer-ready completion packet

The packet should include the preserved ACO-1, a page-level transcription, date-role table, related-material index, KCC/KGS identity crosswalk, later observations, and exceptions. A second reviewer should be able to reopen the source and verify every material value.

Escalate illegible values, unresolved well identity, conflicting locations, missing pages, ambiguous completion type, or questions about regulatory effect. The administrative conclusion should state what the record displays, what analysis compared, what remains an inference, and what evidence is unavailable.

Operational worksheet

The minimum worksheet is observation-centered. A later value creates another row instead of overwriting earlier evidence.

• ACO-1 locator: Record the literal source value, publisher, record role, labeled event date, and access time. Keep any normalized or inferred value in a separate field with its transformation rule.
• KID or API number: Record the literal source value, publisher, record role, labeled event date, and access time.
• operator as shown: Record the literal source value, publisher, record role, labeled event date, and access time.
• lease and well number: Record the literal source value, publisher, record role, labeled event date, and access time. Keep any normalized or inferred value in a separate field with its transformation rule.
• county: Record the literal source value, publisher, record role, labeled event date, and access time.
• section-township-range: Record the literal source value, publisher, record role, labeled event date, and access time.
• completion type: Record the literal source value, publisher, record role, labeled event date, and access time. Keep any normalized or inferred value in a separate field with its transformation rule.
• completion date: Record the literal source value, publisher, record role, labeled event date, and access time.
• first or resumed production date: Record the literal source value, publisher, record role, labeled event date, and access time.
• formation or interval: Record the literal source value, publisher, record role, labeled event date, and access time. Keep any normalized or inferred value in a separate field with its transformation rule.
• log indicator: Record the literal source value, publisher, record role, labeled event date, and access time.
• sample or core indicator: Record the literal source value, publisher, record role, labeled event date, and access time.
• scan or filing date: Record the literal source value, publisher, record role, labeled event date, and access time. Keep any normalized or inferred value in a separate field with its transformation rule.
• access timestamp: Record the literal source value, publisher, record role, labeled event date, and access time.

Sort the completed worksheet by source event and then observation time, not by discovery order. Give every material conflict an owner, next source, and stop condition. If a field is unavailable, record the attempted query and result rather than filling the gap from memory or assumption.

Data sources and methodology

We reviewed the official Kansas source routes listed below on October 7, 2026. We inventoried each route's publisher, record role, searchable identifiers, stated dates, download or document functions, and public limitations. The method preserves source strings, direct locators, query inputs, access timestamps, and material files with byte counts and SHA-256 hashes. Normalization and comparisons occur in separate derived fields so another researcher can reproduce the work.

For quality control, a second reviewer should rerun decisive searches, reopen every source used for a material conclusion, verify file hashes, check identifier formatting and leading zeroes, and review all conflicts rather than only matched records. Facts, analysis, inference, and unavailable evidence should be visibly separated in the handoff.

Limitations

This is a source-architecture and workflow study, not a statistical sample of Kansas wells, operators, production reports, completion records, plugging records, or database accuracy. We did not test authenticated KOLAR functions, agency back-office systems, every possible query combination, all physical holdings, paid sources, or client records. Interfaces and underlying records may change after the checked date.

A negative result is bounded by the documented interface, inputs, filters, coverage, and access time. It does not prove that an event or document does not exist. Public records also do not eliminate the need for qualified legal, regulatory, engineering, survey, environmental, accounting, or title review.

Conclusion

For Kansas ACO-1 well completion evidence, remote land support is most useful when it preserves provenance and shortens the professional reviewer’s exception list. A defensible packet connects each value to its source and time, keeps incompatible record roles separate, exposes conflicts, and states exactly where inference begins. That supports title research, lease and well data maintenance, GIS coordination, diligence, and document preparation without transferring professional judgment to an administrative workflow.

Sources

• KCC Oil & Gas: Kansas Corporation Commission. Official Conservation Division entry point for regulation, records, forms, dockets, maps, and public searches. Checked October 7, 2026.
• KCC Oil & Gas Data Search: Kansas Corporation Commission. Official directory for operator, transfer, plugged-well, well-log, production, docket, and intent searches. Checked October 7, 2026.
• KCC Oil & Gas Forms: Kansas Corporation Commission. Official forms directory defining the roles of licensing, inventory, transfer, completion, production-test, and plugging records. Checked October 7, 2026.
• Kansas Oil Operators: Kansas Corporation Commission. Official current-license query with active-only and all-operator views and downloadable lists. Checked October 7, 2026.
• KCC Well Inventory FAQs: Kansas Corporation Commission. Official explanation of the operator well inventory, its scope, correction workflow, and relationship to transfers. Checked October 7, 2026.
• KCC Form ACO-1 Instructions: Kansas Corporation Commission. Official completion-form instructions describing operator, well, location, test, log, sample, and first-production fields. Checked October 7, 2026.
• KCC Form OPL-1 License Application: Kansas Corporation Commission. Official operator-license application and instructions. Checked October 7, 2026.
• KCC Form T-1 Transfer: Kansas Corporation Commission. Official request for change of operator and permit-transfer form. Checked October 7, 2026.
• KGS Oil and Gas Well Database: Kansas Geological Survey. Official statewide well query with KID, API number, operator, lease, location, status, documents, and bulk files. Checked October 7, 2026.
• KGS Oil and Gas Database Update: Kansas Geological Survey. Official March 2026 notice describing the updated well database and retained query and download functions. Checked October 7, 2026.
• Data@KGS Energy Portal: Kansas Geological Survey. Official portal for well, production, mapper, injection, and subsurface datasets. Checked October 7, 2026.
• KGS Data Resources Library: Kansas Geological Survey. Official description of the state repository for oil, gas, and water-well records and its PLSS filing system. Checked October 7, 2026.
• KGS Data and Maps: Kansas Geological Survey. Official overview of Kansas oil-and-gas records, maps, wells, production, and physical holdings. Checked October 7, 2026.
• KGS Oil and Gas Mapper: Kansas Geological Survey. Official map interface for well information derived from filings submitted to the KCC. Checked October 7, 2026.

Frequently asked questions

Is the newest public screen the complete historical record?

No. It is a current, dated observation. Earlier filings, scans, transfers, downloads, physical holdings, or later corrections may be needed to reconstruct the relevant history.

Can a support team make the final professional determination?

Support staff can locate, preserve, transcribe, compare, and route evidence. Qualified reviewers remain responsible for title, legal, survey, engineering, regulatory, accounting, and other professional conclusions.

What should happen when KCC and KGS records differ?

Keep both observations, confirm identity, compare record roles and dates, and open a focused exception. The difference may reflect timing, scope, correction, or system design; do not invent the cause.

If your team needs a review-ready Kansas ACO-1 well completion evidence packet, Book a free consultation.