Publications

Elastic velocities of water-saturated sandstones depend primarily on porosity, effective pressure, and the degree of consolidation. If the dry-frame moduli are known, from either measurements or theoretical calculations, the effect of pore water on velocities can be modeled using the Gassmann theory. Kuster and Toksoz developed a theory based on wave-scattering theory for a variety of...

Gas-hydrate resource assessment on the Alaska North Slope using 3-D and 2-D seismic data involved six important steps: (1) determining the top and base of the gas-hydrate stability zone, (2) 'tying' well log information to seismic data through synthetic seismograms, (3) differentiating ice from gas hydrate in the permafrost interval, (4) developing an acoustic model for the reservoir and...

Using a geology-based assessment method, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated mean undiscovered volumes of 3.8 billion barrels of undiscovered oil, 3.7 trillion cubic feet of associated/dissolved natural gas, and 0.2 billion barrels of undiscovered natural gas liquids in the Williston Basin Province, North Dakota, Montana, and South Dakota. (See “Introduction” in Fact Sheet for...

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) recently completed the first assessment of the undiscovered technically recoverable gas-hydrate resources on the North Slope of Alaska. Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the USGS estimates that there are about 85 trillion cubic feet (TCF) of undiscovered, technically recoverable gas resources within gas hydrates in northern Alaska.

This guidebook includes papers on various aspects of resource evaluation, exploration, petrophysics, reservoir potential, well deliverability and drilling and completion technology. As new shale plays are explored for and developed, it is important to learn from analogs and case histories, including those from outside the Rocky Mountain region. While the emphasis is on natural gas, we...

No abstract available.

An area between the towns of Winnemucca and Battle Mountain in northwestern Nevada, termed the arkosic triangle, includes the type areas of the middle to upper Paleozoic Inskip Formation and Havallah sequence, the Upper Devonian to Mississippian Harmony Formation, the Sonoma orogeny, and the Golconda thrust. According to an extensive body of scientific literature, the Havallah sequence...

No abstract available.

Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated a mean of 989 billion cubic feet of undiscovered natural gas, a mean of 72 million barrels of undiscovered oil, and a mean of 13 million barrels of undiscovered natural gas liquids in the Bighorn Basin Providence of Wyoming and Montana.

The geologic characteristics of selected siliciclastic (largely sandstone) and carbonate (limestone and dolomite) reservoirs in North America (largely the continental United States) were investigated to improve our understanding of the role of geology in the growth of petroleum reserves. Reservoirs studied were deposited in (1) eolian environments (Jurassic Norphlet Formation of the Gulf...

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has completed an assessment of undiscovered conventional oil and gas resources in all areas north of the Arctic Circle. Using a geology-based probabilistic methodology, the USGS estimated the occurrence of undiscovered oil and gas in 33 geologic provinces thought to be prospective for petroleum. The sum of the mean estimates for each province indicates...

Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) is known to catalyze thermochemical sulfate reduction (TSR) by hydrocarbons (HC), but the reaction mechanism remains unclear. To understand the mechanism of this catalytic reaction, a series of isothermal gold-tube hydrous pyrolysis experiments were conducted at 330 °C for 24 h under a constant confining pressure of 24.1 MPa. The reactants used were saturated HC...