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U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2005-1182

U.S. Geological Survey 2005 Oil and Gas Resource Assessment of the Central North Slope, Alaska: Play Maps and Results

Published 2005

By Christopher P. Garrity, David W. Houseknecht, Kenneth J. Bird, Christopher J. Potter, Thomas E. Moore, Philip H. Nelson, and Christopher J. Schenk

Introduction

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) released in 2005 a summary of the estimated volume of technically recoverable, undiscovered petroleum resources for 24 plays in the central North Slope of Alaska (Bird and Houseknecht, 2005) -- the area between the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska (NPRA) and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). The assessment study area includes mostly State and Native lands onshore and adjacent State offshore areas (plate 1). Results of the Central North Slope petroleum resource assessment are shown in table 1 for each play and for aggregated totals.

Twenty-four (24) plays (assessment units) were defined as a basis for the petroleum resource assessment. The stratigraphic extent of each play is shown in figure 1 and the areal extent of each play is shown in plates 2 through 22. Areal play boundaries were drawn on the basis of a variety of information, including seismic-reflection data, results of previous exploration drilling, and regional patterns of rock properties. Both the stratigraphic and areal boundaries of these 24 plays match similar plays that were assessed in the NPRA (Bird and Houseknecht, 2002; Garrity and others, 2002) and in the ANWR 1002 Area (Bird and Houseknecht, 2001; ANWR Assessment Team, 1999).

Play boundary polygons were captured by digitizing the play maps prepared by USGS geologists. Federal, Native, and State areas were later clipped from the play boundary polygons, allowing for acreages to be calculated for entire plays and for various subareas within plays.

Report

NOTE: Both of these PDF files are large. Choose the one you wish to print and download it to your computer completely before attempting to open it. [PC: right-click; Macintosh: control-click]

Open-File Report 2005-1182 for viewing on screen and printing [9.9-MB Adobe PDF file]
Open-File Report 2005-1182 for plotting at high resolution [82-MB Adobe PDF file]

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ArcGIS version 9.0 Geodatabase of play areas [2.6 MB; updated Dec. 18, 2006]

Contact

For scientific questions or comments concerning this report, contact Christopher P. Garrity.

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