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Oil and gas resource potential north of the Arctic Circle

The US Geological Survey recently assessed the potential for undiscovered conventional petroleum in the Arctic. Using a new map compilation of sedimentary elements, the area north of the Arctic Circle was subdivided into 70 assessment units, 48 of which were quantitatively assessed. The Circum-Arctic Resource Appraisal (CARA) was a geologically based, probabilistic study that relied mainly on buri
Authors
Donald L. Gautier, Kenneth J. Bird, Ronald Charpentier, Arthur Grantz, David W. Houseknecht, Timothy R. Klett, Thomas E. Moore, Janet K. Pitman, Christopher J. Schenk, J. H. Schuenemeyer, K. Sorensen, Marilyn E. Tennyson, Zenon C. Valin, Craig J. Wandrey

Challenges, uncertainties, and issues facing gas production from gas-hydrate deposits

The current paper complements the Moridis et al. (2009) review of the status of the effort toward commercial gas production from hydrates. We aim to describe the concept of the gas-hydrate (GH) petroleum system; to discuss advances, requirements, and suggested practices in GH prospecting and GH deposit characterization; and to review the associated technical, economic, and environmental challenges
Authors
G. J. Moridis, Timothy S. Collett, M. Pooladi-Darvish, S. Hancock, C. Santamarina, R. Boswel, T. Kneafsey, J. Rutqvist, M. B. Kowalsky, M. T. Reagan, E. D. Sloan, A. K. Sum, C. A. Koh

Fundamental studies on kinetic isotope effect (KIE) of hydrogen isotope fractionation in natural gas systems

Based on quantum chemistry calculations for normal octane homolytic cracking, a kinetic hydrogen isotope fractionation model for methane, ethane, and propane formation is proposed. The activation energy differences between D-substitute and non-substituted methane, ethane, and propane are 318.6, 281.7, and 280.2 cal/mol, respectively. In order to determine the effect of the entropy contribution for
Authors
Y. Ni, Q. Ma, G.S. Ellis, J. Dai, Brian Katz, S. Zhang, Y. Tang

A bayesian approach for determining velocity and uncertainty estimates from seismic cone penetrometer testing or vertical seismic profiling data

Conventional processing methods for seismic cone penetrometer data present several shortcomings, most notably the absence of a robust velocity model uncertainty estimate. We propose a new seismic cone penetrometer testing (SCPT) data-processing approach that employs Bayesian methods to map measured data errors into quantitative estimates of model uncertainty. We first calculate travel-time differe
Authors
Adam Pidlisecky, Seth S. Haines

Geology and petroleum potential of the Timan-Pechora Basin Province, Russia

The Timan–Pechora Basin Province represents the northeastern-most cratonic block of Eastern European Russia. More than 16 billion barrels of oil (BBO) and 40 trillion cubic feet of gas (TCFG) have been discovered in this basin. Three geological assessment units (AU) were defined for assessing the potential for undiscovered oil and gas resources. The NW Izhma Depression AU encompasses all potential
Authors
Christopher J. Schenk

Assessment of undiscovered oil and gas resources of the North Sakhalin Basin Province, Russia, 2011

Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated volumes of undiscovered, technically recoverable, conventional petroleum resources for the North Sakhalin Basin Province of Russia. The mean volumes were estimated at 5.3 billion barrels of crude oil, 43.8 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, and 0.8 billion barrels of natural gas liquids.
Authors
T. R. Klett, Christopher J. Schenk, Craig J. Wandrey, Ronald R. Charpentier, Michael E. Brownfield, Janet K. Pitman, Richard M. Pollastro, Troy A. Cook, Marilyn E. Tennyson

Gas hydrate prospecting using well cuttings and mud-gas geochemistry from 35 wells, North Slope, Alaska

Gas hydrate deposits are common on the North Slope of Alaska around Prudhoe Bay; however, the extent of these deposits is unknown outside of this area. As part of a U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and Bureau of Land Management gas hydrate research collaboration, well-cutting and mud-gas samples have been collected and analyzed from mainly industry-drilled wells on the North Slope for the purpose of
Authors
T.D. Lorenson, Timothy S. Collett

Assessment of undiscovered conventional oil and gas resources of Thailand

The U.S. Geological Survey estimated mean volumes of 1.6 billion barrels of undiscovered conventional oil and 17 trillion cubic feet of undiscovered conventional natural gas in three geologic provinces of Thailand using a geology-based methodology. Most of the undiscovered conventional oil and gas resource is estimated to be in the area known as offshore Thai Basin province.
Authors
Chris Schenk

Definition of potential unconventional oil and gas resource accumulations, onshore Thailand

Conventional accumulations represent oil and gas accumulations that are buoyant upon a water column, whereas unconventional accumulations generally do not rely on buoyancy.
Authors
Christopher J. Schenk

Gas shale/oil shale

The production of natural gas from shales continues to increase in North America, and shale gas exploration is on the rise in other parts of the world since the previous report by this committee was published by American Association of Petroleum Geologists, Energy Minerals Division (2009). For the United States, the volume of proved reserves of natural gas increased 11% from 2008 to 2009, the incr
Authors
N.S. Fishman, S.R. Bereskin, K.A. Bowker, B.J. Cardott, T.C. Chidsey, R. F. Dubiel, C.B. Enomoto, W.B. Harrison, D.M. Jarvie, C.L. Jenkins, J.A. LeFever, Peng Li, J.N. McCracken, C. D. Morgan, S.H. Nordeng, R.E. Nyahay, Steven Schamel, R.L. Sumner, L.L. Wray

Multicomponent seismic methods for characterizing gas hydrate occurrences and systems in deep-water Gulf of Mexico

In-situ characterization and quantification of natural gas hydrate occurrences remain critical research directions, whether for energy resource, drilling hazard, or climate-related studies. Marine multicomponent seismic data provide the full seismic wavefield including partial redundancy, and provide a promising set of approaches for gas hydrate characterization. Numerous authors have demonstrated
Authors
Seth S. Haines, Myung W. Lee, Timothy S. Collett, Bob A. Hardage

Comprehensive database of wellbore temperatures and drilling mud weight pressures by depth for Judge Digby field, Louisiana

This document serves as the repository for the unprocessed data used in the investigation of temperature and overpressure relations within the deep Tuscaloosa Formation in Judge Digby field. It is a compilation of all the publicly accessible wellbore temperature and pressure data for Judge Digby field, a prolific natural gas field producing from the Upper Cretaceous lower part of the Tuscaloosa Fo
Authors
Lauri Burke