By Al Pickett Special Correspondent Stacked-pay geology, top-flight industry technology, and well economics among the best in the nation are combining to create golden opportunities for independent oil and gas companies in the oil-prone South Central Oklahoma Oil Province and Sooner Trend Anadarko Canadian Kingfisher plays. As illustrated by several prolific wells in the vast geography and target-rich geology of the appropriately named plays, STACK and SCOOP are providing high-potential drilling targets across more than 15 Oklahoma counties through a super thick pay section that extends from the shallower Mississippian Springer Shale to the deeper Silurian/Ordovician Woodford and Hunton formations. It was only five years ago that Continental Resources Inc. announced the discovery of the SCOOP and four years since Newfield Exploration Co. announced the STACK discovery, which were then followed by additional finds such as the SCOOP Springer Shale, Northwest Cana, Meramec STACK, Osage and Oswego sub plays. And while all of these geologic concepts still may be relatively new in the industry's lexicon, the central and southern parts of the Sooner State quickly have developed into a world-class horizontal resource playground. MAY 2017 75