Energy Resources Program
Publications
Petrophysical and geomechanical properties of gas hydrate-bearing sediments recovered from Alaska North Slope 2018 Hydrate-01 Stratigraphic Test Well
Knowledge of petrophysical and geomechanical properties of gas hydrate-bearing sediments are essential for predicting reservoir responses to gas production. The same information is also needed for the designing of production well completions such as specifications for artificial lift, test site water storage capacity, and mesh size for the sand...
Yoneda, Jun; Jin, Yusuke; Muraoka, Michihiro; Oshima, Motoi; Suzuki, Kiyofumi; Walker, Mike; Westacott, Donald; Otsuki, Satoshi; Kumagai, Kenichi; Collett, Timothy; Boswell, Ray; Okinaka, Norihiro Design and operations of the Hydrate 01 Stratigraphic test well, Alaska North Slope
The National Energy Technology Laboratory, the Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation, and the U.S. Geological Survey are leading an effort to conduct an extended gas hydrate production test in northern Alaska. The proposed production test required the drilling of an initial stratigraphic test well (STW) to confirm the geologic conditions...
Collett, Timothy S.; Zyrianova, Margarita V.; Okinaka, Norihiro; Wakatsuki, Motoi; Boswell, Ray; Marsteller, Scott; Minge, David; Crumley, Stephen; Itter, David; Hunter, Robert D.
Procedure for calculating estimated ultimate recoveries of wells in the Wolfcamp shale of the Midland Basin, Permian Basin Province, Texas
In 2016, the U.S. Geological Survey published an assessment of technically recoverable continuous oil and gas resources of the Wolfcamp shale in the Midland Basin, Permian Basin Province, Texas. Estimated ultimate recoveries (EURs) were calculated with production data from IHS MarkitTM using DeclinePlus software in the Harmony interface. These...
Leathers-Miller, Heidi M. Alaska North Slope 2018 Hydrate-01 Stratigraphic Test Well: Technical results
The Hydrate-01 Stratigraphic Test Well was drilled in December 2018 to confirm that a seismically-identified location within the western Prudhoe Bay Unit might be suitable for extended-duration scientific production testing. The well tested two primary targets: the deeper Unit B is highly favorable due to optimal reservoir temperature and minimal...
Boswell, Ray; Collett, Timothy; Suzuki, Kiyofumi; Yoneda, Jun; Haines, Seth S.; Okinaka, Nori; Tamaki, Machiko; Crumley, Stephen; Itter, David; Hunter, Robert Gas hydrate saturation estimation from acoustic log data in the 2018 Alaska North Slope Hydrate-01 stratigraphic test well
Completed in December 2018, the Alaska North Slope Hydrate 01 stratigraphic test well provides a wealth of logging-while-drilling (LWD) data for strata to below the base of gas hydrate stability (BGHS). This well is intended to be the first of three wells drilled for a long-term gas hydrate production test to be conducted by the U.S. Department...
Haines, Seth S.; Collett, Timothy; Boswell, Ray; Lim, Teck; Okinaka, Nori; Suzuki, Kiyofumi; Fujimoto, Akira
Assessment of continuous oil and gas resources in the Ordovician Collingwood Formation and Utica Shale of the Michigan Basin Province, 2019
Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated undiscovered, technically recoverable mean resources of 290 milllion barrels of shale oil and 7.9 trillion cubic feet of shale gas in the Ordovician Collingwood-Utica Shale Total Petroleum System of the Michigan Basin Province.
Schenk, Christopher J.; Mercier, Tracey J.; Woodall, Cheryl A.; Leathers-Miller, Heidi M.; Finn, Thomas M.; Le, Phuong A.; Brownfield, Michael E.; Marra, Kristen R.; Ellis, Geoffrey S. Origin and geochemistry of formation waters from the lower Eagle Ford Group, Gulf Coast Basin, south central Texas
The lower Eagle Ford Group (LEFG) is one of the most productive continuous hydrocarbon plays in the United States but few associated produced waters data and minimal interpretation have been published. This effort focuses on results from compositional and isotopic data from 39 produced water samples collected from horizontal wells producing from...
Engle, Mark A; Doolan, Colin A.; Pitman, Janet K.; Varonka, Matthew S.; Chenault, Jessica; Orem, William H.; McMahon, Peter B.; Jubb, Aaron M.
Conceptual framework and approach for conducting a geoenvironmental assessment of undiscovered uranium resources
This report presents a novel conceptual framework and approach for conducting a geologically based environmental assessment, or geoenvironmental assessment, of undiscovered uranium resources within an area likely to contain uranium deposits. The framework is based on a source-to-receptor model that prioritizes the most likely contaminant sources,...
Gallegos, Tanya J.; Walton-Day, Katherine; Seal, Robert R. Modeling geologic sequestration of carbon dioxide in a deep saline carbonate reservoir with TOUGH2–ChemPlugin, a new tool for reactive transport modeling
This paper outlines the development and demonstration of a new tool, TOUGH2–ChemPlugin (T2CPI) for predicting rock–water–CO2 interaction following injection of supercritical CO2 into a heterogeneous carbonate system. Specifically, modeling capabilities of TOUGH2, which examines multiphase flow and supercritical CO2 behavior, were...
Roberts-Ashby, Tina L.; Berger, Peter M.; Cunningham, Jeffrey A.; Kumar, Ram; Blondes, Madalyn S. Nanoscale molecular composition of solid bitumen from the Eagle Ford Group across a natural thermal maturity gradient
Microscopic solid bitumen is a petrographically defined secondary organic matter residue produced during petroleum generation and subsequent oil transformation. The presence of solid bitumen impacts many reservoir properties including porosity, permeability, and hydrocarbon generation and storage, among others. Furthermore, solid bitumen...
Jubb, Aaron M.; Birdwell, Justin E.; Hackley, Paul C.; Hatcherian, Javin J.; Qu, Jing Trends in thermal maturity indicators for the organic sulfur-rich Eagle Ford Shale
Thermal maturity is critical to evaluate petroleum systems and to interpret biomarker results for paleoenvironmental and geobiology studies. Many thermal maturity indices were developed for marine source rocks containing type II kerogen, but their behavior in organic sulfur-rich source rocks requires more investigation. Here, we present...
French, Katherine L.; Birdwell, Justin E.; Lewan, Michael
Compositional analysis of formation water geochemistry and microbiology of commercial and carbon dioxide-rich wells in the southwestern United States
Studies of naturally occurring subsurface carbon dioxide (CO2) accumulations can provide useful information for potential CO2 injection projects; however, the microbial communities and formation water geochemistry of most reservoirs are understudied. Formation water and microbial biomass were sampled at four CO2-rich reservoir sites: two within...
Shelton, Jenna L.; Andrews, Robert S.; Akob, Denise M.; DeVera, Christina A.; Mumford, Adam C.; Engle, Mark; Plampin, Michelle R.; Brennan, Sean T.