Economics and the 1995 National Assessment of U.S. Oil and Gas Resources

Emil D. Attanasi

U. S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 95-75-M

This report is preliminary and has not been reviewed for conformity to U.S. Geological Survey editorial standards and stratigraphic nomenclature.
Any use of trade, product, or firm names in this publication is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.

Contents

1. Summary
2. Introduction
3. Resources Assessed
4. Methodology
   1. Undiscovered Conventional Oil and Gas Fields
   2. Unconventional Resources
   3. Inferred Reserves
5. Assumptions
   1. General Assumptions
   2. Specific Assumptions: Undiscovered Conventional
   3. Specific Assumptions: Continuous-type and Coalbed gas plays
6. Incremental Costs
   1. Overview: Undiscovered Conventional Fields and Continuous-type Accumulations
   2. Undiscovered Conventional Oil and Gas
      1. Characteristics of Technically Recoverable Resources
      2. Incremental Costs
   3. Continuous-type Accumulations and Coalbed Gas
      1. Characteristics of Technically Recoverable Resources
      2. Incremental Costs
7. Inferred Reserve Estimates
   1. Field Growth: Origins and Qualifications
   2. Field Growth to 2015: A Comparative Analysis
8. Implications and Limitations
9. Acknowledgments
10. References
11. Nomenclature
12. Appendix A. Tables of province level conventional undiscovered results (see Tables section below)
13. Appendix B. Tables showing regions, provinces, province codes and play codes for continuous-type plays and coalbed gas plays (see Tables section below)
14. Appendix C. Methodology
    1. Undiscovered Conventional Oil and gas Resources
    2. Continuous-type Accumulations In Sandstone, Shales, Chalks, and Coal
15. Appendix D. Assessed Technically Recoverable Resources, Proved Reserves, and Past Production

ILLUSTRATIONS

1. Figure 1A and B. Incremental costs of finding, developing, and producing
   1. Crude oil from undiscovered conventional oil fields and continuous-type oil accumulations
   2. Non-associated gas from undiscovered conventional gas fields and continuous-type gas accumulations and coalbed gas
2. Figure 2 A and B. Shares of proved reserves, field growth through 2015, and economic undiscovered conventional and economic unconventional
   1. Crude oil
   2. Non-associated gas
3. Figure 3A.and B. Petroleum regions and provinces onshore and State offshore areas:
   1. Conterminous United States
   2. Alaska
4. Figure 4A. and B. Locations of assessed continuous-type plays
   1. Continuous-type gas plays in sandstone, siltstone, shales, and chalk
   2. Continuous-type oil plays in sandstone, siltstone, shales, and chalk
5. Figure 5. Locations of assessed coalbed gas plays
6. Figure 6. Geologic setting of continuous-type and discrete type accumulations
7. Figure 7. Estimated quantities of economic crude oil by region from undiscovered conventional and continuous-type oil accumulations
8. Figure 8. Estimated quantities of economic non-associated gas by region from undiscovered conventional and continuous-type gas accumulations and coalbed gas
9. Figure 9.A-H. Incremental costs of finding, developing, and producing undiscovered conventional oil and oil from continuous-type oil accumulations in
   1. Alaska
   2. Pacific Coast Region
   3. Colorado Plateau and Basin and Range Region
   4. Rocky Mountain and Northern Great Plains Region
   5. West Texas and Eastern New Mexico Region
   6. Gulf Coast Region
   7. Mid-continent Region
   8. Eastern Region
10. Figure 10. A-H. Incremental costs of finding, developing, and producing undiscovered conventional non-associated gas and gas from continuous-type gas accumulations and coalbed gas in
    1. Alaska
    2. Pacific Coast Region
    3. Colorado Plateau and Basin and Range Region
    4. Rocky Mountain and Northern Great Plains Region
    5. West Texas and Eastern New Mexico Region
    6. Gulf Coast Region
    7. Mid-continent Region
    8. Eastern Region
11. Figure 11. A and B. Frequency-size distribution of ultimate and undiscovered fields
    1. Field-size frequencies in size classes 6 through 18
    2. Field-size frequencies in size classes 1 through 18
12. Figure 12. Proved reserves, crude oil growth to 2015, and economic oil
13. Figure 13. Proved reserves, non-associated gas growth to 2015 and economic non-associated gas
14. Figure D-1. Cumulative production, proved reserves, inferred reserves, technically recoverable oil in undiscovered conventional fields and continuous-type accumulations
15. Figure D-2. Cumulative production, proved reserves, inferred reserves, technically recoverable gas in undiscovered conventional fields, continuous-type accumulations, and coalbed gas

TABLES

• Table 1. Estimated economic oil, gas, natural gas liquids in undiscovered conventional fields and in unconventional accumulations
• Table 2. Estimates of technically recoverable and economic oil, gas, and natural gas liquids from continuous-type accumulations
• Table 3. Estimates of technically recoverable and economic gas from coalbed gas

• Table A-1. Mean values of undiscovered technically recoverable conventional oil, gas, and natural gas liquids as of January 1994 in the United States
• Table A-2. Undiscovered conventional oil, gas, and natural gas liquids with incremental costs of $18 per barrel and $2 per thousand cubic feet gas as of January 1994
• Table A-3. Undiscovered conventional oil, gas, and natural gas liquids with incremental costs of $30 per barrel and $3.34 per thousand cubic feet gas as of January 1994
• Table A-4. Conventional field-size class definitions

• Table B-1. Petroleum provinces of onshore and State offshore areas of the conterminous United States
• Table B-2. Play numbers and names of assessed continuous-type gas plays
• Table B-3. Play numbers and names of assessed continuous-type oil plays
• Table B-4. Play numbers and names of assessed coalbed gas plays

TABLE OF EMPIRICAL TO SI UNITS

Unit Abbreviations

BBO .........Billions of barrels of oil
BBL ..........Billions of barrels
MMBO......Millions of barrels of oil
MMBOE .. Millions of barrels of oil equivalent
TCFG .... Trillions cubic feet gas
mcf ....... Thousands cubic feet gas
bbl ....... Barrels

Created by the EERT WWW Staff.