|
| Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the U.S. Geological
Survey estimated a mean of 50.6 trillion cubic feet of undiscovered natural gas, a mean of 19 million barrels of
undiscovered oil, and a mean of 148 million barrels of natural gas liquids in the San Juan Basin Province. |
|
| Introduction |
| The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) recently completed an assessment
of the undiscovered oil and gas potential of the San Juan Basin Province
of northwestern New Mexico and southwestern Colorado (fig. 1). The
assessment of the San Juan Basin Province is based on the geologic
elements of each Total Petroleum System defined in the province, including
hydrocarbon source rocks (source-rock maturation, hydrocarbon generation
and migration), reservoir rocks (sequence stratigraphy and petrophysical
properties), and hydrocarbon traps (trap formation and timing). Using
this geologic framework, the USGS defined four Total Petroleum Systems
and 14 Assessment Units within these Total Petroleum Systems and quantitatively
estimated the undiscovered oil and gas resources within the 14 Assessment
Units (table
1). |
|
| Resource Summary |
| The USGS assessed undiscovered conventional oil and gas and continuous
(unconventional) gas. The USGS estimated a mean of 50.6 trillion cubic
feet of gas (TCFG), a mean of 19 million barrels of oil (MMBO), and
a mean of 148 million barrels of total natural gas liquids (MMBNGL)
in four Total Petroleum Systems. Nearly all (99.9 percent) of the
undiscovered gas resource is continuous (table
1). Of the 50.6 TCFG of undiscovered gas at the mean, about 29.2
TCFG is estimated to be in the Fruitland Total Petroleum System; 80
percent of this 29.2 TCFG (23.5 TCFG) is Fruitland TPS coal-bed gas.
The Lewis Total Petroleum System is estimated to contain a mean of
10.2 TCFG, and the Mancos-Menefee Total Petroleum System is estimated
to contain a mean of 11 TCFG, of which about 6 percent (0.67 TCFG)
is coal-bed gas (table
1). The Mancos-Menefee Total Petroleum System contains a mean
of about 16.8 MMB of undiscovered conventional oil, representing about
88 percent of the undiscovered oil (19.1 MMBO) in the province. The
remainder of the undiscovered conventional oil is estimated to be
in Jurassic Entrada Sandstone reservoirs of the Todilto Total Petroleum
System. |
|
| For Further Information |
Supporting geologic studies of Total Petroleum Systems and Assessment
Units, and reports on the methodology used in the San Juan Basin Province
assessment are in progress.
Assessment results are available at the USGS Central Energy Team website:
http://energy.cr.usgs.gov/oilgas/noga/ |
|
Figure 1. San Juan Basin Province of northwestern New
Mexico and southwestern Colorado.
| San Juan Basin Province Assessment
Team: |
| Jennie L. Ridgley (Task Leader; ridgley@usgs.gov), Steven M. Condon, Russell F. Dubiel, Ronald R. Charpentier, Troy A. Cook,
Robert A. Crovelli, Timothy R. Klett, Richard M. Pollastro, and Christopher J. Schenk. |
|
