Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Publications

Filter Total Items: 2670

Implications of aggregating and smoothing daily production data on estimates of the transition time between flow regimes in horizontal hydraulically fractured Bakken oil wells

The level to which data are aggregated or smoothed can impact analytical and predictive modeling results. This paper discusses findings regarding such impacts on estimating change points in production flow regimes of horizontal hydraulically fractured shale oil wells producing from the middle member of the Bakken Formation. Change points that signal transitions in flow regimes are important becaus
Authors
T. C. Coburn, Emil D. Attanasi

An assessment of the economic potential of lignite and leonardite resources in the Williston Basin, North Dakota

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) requested assistance from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) to conduct an assessment study to identify areas that may have economic potential for the future extraction of lignite and leonardite resources in the Williston Basin in North Dakota. The study will be used by the BLM to assist with the preparation of a revised resource management plan for the Williston
Authors
Brian N. Shaffer

Arsenic release to the environment from hydrocarbon production, storage, transportation, use and waste management

Arsenic (As) is a toxic trace element with many sources, including hydrocarbons such as oil, natural gas, oil sands, and oil- and gas-bearing shales. Arsenic from these hydrocarbon sources can be released to the environment through human activities of hydrocarbon production, storage, transportation and use. In addition, accidental release of hydrocarbons to aquifers with naturally occurring (geoge
Authors
Madeline Schreiber, Isabelle M. Cozzarelli

Energy and minerals division tight oil and gas committee: Activities and commodity report for 2019-2020

In 2019, total daily tight oil and gas production increased in the United States month over month, with annualized growth of 14% for oil and 12% for gas. Those gains leveled off in the first quarter of 2020 due to aggressive price competition and increases in international production. Then came the pandemic with a substantially larger dose of economic turmoil, driving down demand due in part to sh
Authors
Justin E. Birdwell, Kent Bowker, Ben Burke, Thomas Chidsey, Ursula Hammes, Bo Henk, Zachary Hollon, Shu Jiang, Peng Li, Kristen R. Marra, Jock McCracken, Richard Nyahay, Abbas Seyedolali, Katie Schmid, Beau Tinnin, Katherine J. Whidden

Geology and assessment of undiscovered oil and gas resources of the Yenisey-Khatanga Basin Province

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) assessed the potential for undiscovered oil and gas resources of the Yenisey-Khatanga Basin Province as part of the USGS Circum-Arctic Resource Appraisal. The province is situated between the Taimyr-Kara high (Kara block, Central Taimyr fold belt, and South Taimyr fold belt) and the Siberian craton. The two assessment units (AUs) defined for this study—the Khatang
Authors
Timothy R. Klett, Janet K. Pitman

Gas hydrate quantification in Walker Ridge block 313, Gulf of Mexico, from full-waveform inversion of ocean-bottom seismic data

The Gulf of Mexico (GOM) Joint Industry Project Leg 2 logging-while-drilling data in Walker Ridge lease block 313 (WR313) in the GOM detected gas hydrate in coarse- and fine-grained sediments at sites WR313-G and WR313-H. The coarse-grained units are thin (⁠<10  m⁠) and highly saturated, whereas the fine-grained unit is thick (approximately 200 m) with low saturation and fracture-filling gas hydra
Authors
Jiliang Wang, Priyank Jaiswal, Seth S. Haines, Yihong Yang, Patrick E. Hart

Investigating the effects of broad ion beam milling to sedimentary organic matter: Surface flattening or heat-induced aromatization and condensation?

Previous work has proposed transfer of kinetic heat energy from low-energy broad ion beam (BIB) milling causes thermal alteration of sedimentary organic matter, resulting in increases of organic matter reflectance. Whereas, other studies have suggested the organic matter reflectance increase from BIB milling is due to decreased surface roughness. To test if reflectance increases to sedimentary org
Authors
Paul C. Hackley, Aaron M. Jubb, Brett J. Valentine, Javin J. Hatcherian, Jing-Jiang Yu, William K. Podrazky

Structure contour and isopach maps of the Wolfcamp shale and Bone Spring Formation of the Delaware Basin, Permian Basin Province, New Mexico and Texas

A series of structure contour and isopach maps for the Wolfcamp shale and the Bone Spring Formation of the Delaware Basin, Permian Basin Province, were generated in support of the U.S. Geological Survey 2018 assessment of undiscovered continuous oil and gas resources. The interpreted formation tops used to generate the maps are from the IHS Markit® PRODFit™ database, a commercial proprietary datab
Authors
Stephanie B. Gaswirth

Assessment of undiscovered oil and gas resources in the Upper Cretaceous Austin Chalk and Tokio and Eutaw Formations, U.S. Gulf Coast, 2019

Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated undiscovered, technically recoverable mean resources of 6.9 billion barrels of oil and 41.5 trillion cubic feet of natural gas in conventional and continuous accumulations in the Upper Cretaceous Austin Chalk and Tokio and Eutaw Formations onshore and in State waters of the U.S. Gulf Coast region.
Authors
Janet K. Pitman, Stanley T. Paxton, Scott A. Kinney, Katherine J. Whidden, Seth S. Haines, Brian A. Varela, Tracey J. Mercier, Cheryl A. Woodall, Christopher J. Schenk, Heidi M. Leathers-Miller, Ofori N. Pearson, Lauri A. Burke, Phuong A. Le, Justin E. Birdwell, Nicholas J. Gianoutsos, Katherine L. French, Ronald M. Drake, Thomas M. Finn, Geoffrey S. Ellis, Stephanie B. Gaswirth, Kristen R. Marra, Marilyn E. Tennyson, Chilisa M. Shorten

Assessment of undiscovered gas resources of the Fruitland Total Petroleum System, San Juan Basin Province, New Mexico and Colorado, 2020

Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated undiscovered, technically recoverable mean resources of 39 trillion cubic feet of gas within continuous and conventional reservoirs of the Fruitland Total Petroleum System in the San Juan Basin Province, New Mexico and Colorado.
Authors
Kristen R. Marra, Christopher J. Schenk, Tracey J. Mercier, Heidi M. Leathers-Miller, Marilyn E. Tennyson, Thomas M. Finn, Cheryl A. Woodall, Michael E. Brownfield, Phuong A. Le, Ronald M. Drake

Assessment of undiscovered gas resources in the Lewis Shale Total Petroleum System of the San Juan Basin Province, New Mexico and Colorado, 2020

Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated undiscovered, technically recoverable mean resources of 2.6 trillion cubic feet of gas in the Lewis Shale Total Petroleum System of the San Juan Basin Province, New Mexico and Colorado.
Authors
Kristen R. Marra, Christopher J. Schenk, Tracey J. Mercier, Heidi M. Leathers-Miller, Marilyn E. Tennyson, Thomas M. Finn, Cheryl A. Woodall, Michael E. Brownfield, Phuong A. Le, Ronald M. Drake