National Assessment of Oil and Gas Fact Sheet
April 2005
Raton Basin–Sierra Grande Uplift Province Assessment Team:
Figure 1. Raton Basin–Sierra Grande Uplift Province (orange line) of nort...
Table 1. Raton Basin–Sierra Grande Uplift Province assessment results lis...
Using geology-based assessment methods, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated a mean of 2.35 trillion cubic feet of undiscovered natural gas and a mean of 28.1 million barrels of undiscovered natural gas liquids in the Raton Basin–Sierra Grande Uplift Province. This is a gas-prone province with very limited oil production or resources; for this reason, oil resources were not assessed.
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) recently completed an assessment of the undiscovered oil and gas potential of the Raton Basin–Sierra Grande Uplift Province of northeastern New Mexico and southeastern Colorado (fig. 1). The assessment included the Raton Basin, the Las Vegas subbasin, and the Sierra Grande uplift. The assessment is based on the geologic elements of each Total Petroleum System (TPS) defined within the province, including hydrocarbon source rocks (source-rock maturation, hydrocarbon generation and migration), reservoir rocks (depositional setting and petrophysical properties), and hydrocarbon traps (trap formation and timing). Using this geologic framework, the USGS defined (1) the Upper Cretaceous–Tertiary Coalbed Gas TPS containing one conventional oil and gas assessment unit (AU) (Upper Cretaceous–Tertiary Sandstones AU) and two continuous oil and gas assessment units (Raton Coalbed Gas AU and Vermejo Coalbed Gas AU), and (2) the Jurassic-Cretaceous Composite TPS containing two conventional oil and gas assessment units (Fractured Reservoirs AU and Jurassic-Cretaceous Reservoirs AU). Undiscovered oil, gas, and natural gas liquids resources were quantitatively estimated within the five AUs (table 1).
The USGS assessment of undiscovered conventional oil and gas and undiscovered continuous (unconventional) oil and gas within the province resulted in mean estimates of 2.35 trillion cubic feet of gas (TCFG) and 28.1 million barrels of total natural gas liquids (table 1). Undiscovered continuous resources are estimated at 1.59 TCFG from Raton and Vermejo Formation coals of the Upper Cretaceous–Tertiary Coalbed Gas TPS. The remainder of the undiscovered resources is probably structurally and (or) stratigraphically trapped conventional gas accumulations and possible unconventional gas within sandstones and shales ranging in age from Jurassic to Tertiary.
Supporting geologic studies of TPS and AU results, and reports on the methodology used in the Raton Basin–Sierra Grande Uplift Province assessment, are in progress. Assessment results are available at the USGS Central Energy Team Web site, accessed March 1, 2005. http://energy.cr.usgs.gov/oilgas/noga/
Debra K. Higley (higley@usgs.gov), Troy A. Cook, Richard M. Pollastro, Ronald R. Charpentier, Timothy R. Klett, and Christopher J. Schenk.
[Resources are undiscovered oil, gas, and (or) natural gas liquids. MMBO, million barrels of oil; BCFG, billion cubic feet of gas; MMBNGL, million barrels of natural gas liquids. Type refers to mainly oil or gas accumulations in the assessment unit. CBG is coalbed gas. Fractiles are fully risked estimates. F95 represents a 95-percent chance of at least the amount tabulated. Other fractiles are defined similarly. Fractiles are additive under the assumption of perfect positive correlation]
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