USGS: Brookian Sequence Well Log Correlation Sections and Occurrence of Gas Hydrates, North-Central North Slope, Alaska

By Kristen A. Lewis and Timothy S. Collett

Gas hydrates are naturally occurring crystalline, ice-like substances that consist of natural gas molecules trapped in a solid-water lattice. Because of the compact nature of their structure, hydrates can effectively store large volumes of gas and, consequently, have been identified as a potential unconventional energy source. First recognized to exist geologically in the 1960s, significant accumulations of gas hydrate have been found throughout the world. Gas hydrate occurrence is limited to environments such as permafrost regions and subsea sediments because of the pressure and temperature conditions required for their formation and stability. Permafrost-associated gas hydrate accumulations have been discovered in many regions of the Arctic, including Russia, Canada, and the North Slope of Alaska.

Gas hydrate research has a long history in northern Alaska. This research includes the drilling, coring, and well log evaluation of two gas hydrate stratigraphic test wells and two resource assessments of gas hydrates on the Alaska North Slope. Building upon these previous investigations, this report provides a summary of the pertinent well log, gas hydrate, and stratigraphic data for key wells related to gas hydrate occurrence in the north-central North Slope. The data are presented in nine well log…. Read More at: https://pubs.usgs.gov/sir/2013/5050/

USGS: Assessment of Undiscovered Petroleum Resources of the Arctic Alaska Petroleum Province

By David W. Houseknecht, Kenneth J. Bird, and Christopher P. Garrity

The Arctic Alaska Petroleum Province encompasses all lands and adjacent continental shelf areas north of the Brooks Range-Herald arch tectonic belts and south of the northern (outboard) margin of the Alaska rift shoulder. Even though only a small part is thoroughly explored, it is one of the most prolific petroleum provinces in North America, with total known resources (cumulative production plus proved reserves) of about 28 billion barrels of oil equivalent.

For assessment purposes, the province is divided into a platform assessment unit, comprising the Alaska rift shoulder and its relatively undeformed flanks, and a fold-and-thrust belt assessment unit, comprising the deformed area north of the Brooks Range and Herald arch tectonic belts. Mean estimates of undiscovered,…..Read More at: https://pubs.usgs.gov/sir/2012/5147/

USGS: Assessment of Potential Oil and Gas Resources in Source Rocks of the Alaska North Slope, 2012

By David W. Houseknecht, William A. Rouse, Christopher P. Garrity, Katherine J. Whidden, Julie A. Dumoulin, Christopher J. Schenk, Ronald R. Charpentier, Troy A. Cook, Stephanie B. Gaswirth, Mark A. Kirschbaum, and Richard M. Pollastro

he U.S. Geological Survey estimated potential, technically recoverable oil and gas resources for source rocks of the Alaska North Slope. Estimates (95-percent to 5-percent probability) range from zero to 2 billion barrels of oil and from zero to nearly 80 trillion cubic feet of gas. Read More at: https://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/2012/3013/

USGS: Economics of Undiscovered Oil and Gas in the North Slope of Alaska: Economic Update and Synthesis

By Emil D. Attanasi and Philip A. Freeman

Abstract

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has published assessments by geologists of undiscovered conventional oil and gas accumulations in the North Slope of Alaska; these assessments contain a set of scientifically based estimates of undiscovered, technically recoverable quantities of oil and gas in discrete oil and gas accumulations that can be produced with conventional recovery technology. The assessments do not incorporate economic factors such as recovery costs and product prices. The assessors considered undiscovered conventional oil and gas resources in four areas of the North Slope: (1) the central North Slope, (2) the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska (NPRA), (3) the 1002 Area of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), and (4) the area west of the NPRA, called in this report the “western North Slope.” These analyses were prepared at different times with various minimum assessed oil and gas accumulation sizes and with slightly different assumptions. Results of these past studies were recently supplemented with information by the assessment geologists that allowed adjustments for uniform minimum assessed accumulation sizes and a consistent set of assumptions. The effort permitted the statistical aggregation of the assessments of the four areas composing the study area.

This economic analysis is based on undiscovered assessed accumulation distributions… Read More at: https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2009/1112/

USGS: Assessment of Gas Hydrate Resources on the North Slope, Alaska, 2008

he 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…Read More at: https://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/2008/3073/

USGS: Shale Gas and Shale Oil Resource Potential of the Alaska North Slope………