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U.S. Geological Survey
Open-File Report 03-407
Version 1.0

Representative Bulk Composition of Oil Types for the 2002 U.S. Geological Survey Resource Assessment of National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska

By Paul G. Lillis

2004
Index map showing NPRA in western Brooks Range

Index map showing location of study area


Bulk oil composition is an important economic consideration of a petroleum resource assessment. Geological and geochemical interpretations from previous North Slope studies combined with recently acquired geochemical data are used to predict representative oil gravity (°API) and sulfur content (wt.% S) of the oil types for the 2002 U.S. Geological Survey resource assessment of the National Petroleum Reserve of Alaska (NPRA). The oil types are named after their respective source rock units and include Kuna-Lisburne, Shublik-Otuk, Kingak-Blankenship, and Pebble-GRZ-Torok. The composition of the oil (24°API, 1.6 wt.% S) in the South Barrow 12 well was selected as representative of Kuna-Lisburne oil. The average gravity and sulfur values (23°API and 1.6 wt.% S, respectively) of the Kuparuk field were selected to be representative of Shublik-Otuk oil type. The composition of the oil (39°API, 0.3 wt.% S) from the Alpine field discovery well (ARCO Bergschrund 1) was selected to be representative of Kingak-Blankenship oil. The oil composition (37°API, 0.1 wt.% S) of Tarn field was considered representative of the Pebble-GRZ-Torok oil type in NPRA.

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URL of this page: http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2003/of03-407/
Maintained by: Michael Diggles
Date created: May 20, 2004
Date last modified: May 20, 2004 (mfd)