U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2006-1295

Preliminary Utah Oil Shale Database

By John R. Dyni,(1) J.R. Donnell, (1) Michael D. Vanden Berg,(2) and David E. Tabet,(2)

(1)

U.S. Geological Survey, Central Region Energy Resources Team
Denver Federal Center
Box 25046, MS939
Denver, CO  80225

John R. Dyni
Scientist Emeritus
Central Energy Resources Team
Email: jdyni@usgs.gov
Fax: 303-236-0459
Phone: 303-236-5544

United States Department of Interior
DIRK KEMPTHORNE, Secretary

United States Geological Survey
P. Patrick Leahy, Acting Director

(2) 

Utah Geological Survey
1594 West North Temple
P.O. Box 146100
Salt Lake City, UT 84114-6100

David E. Tabet
Geologic Manager
Energy Minerals Progam
Email: davidtabet@utah.gov
Fax: 801 537 3400
Phone: 801 537 3300

Michael D. Vanden Berg
Geologist
Energy Minerals Program
michaelvandenberg@utah.gov
Fax: 801 537 3400
Phone: 801 537 3300

INTRODUCTION

Oil shale deposits in the Eocene Green River Formation in Colorado, Wyoming, and Utah host as much as 1.5 trillion barrels of in-place shale oil. These deposits are ranked as the largest known resource of shale oil in the world (Dyni, 2006). The oil shale was deposited in two large lakes during Eocene time: Lake Gosiute in southwestern Wyoming, and Lake Uinta in northwestern Colorado and northeastern Utah. By far, the largest part of the resource is located in the Piceance Creek Basin in northwestern Colorado, which is estimated to contain as much as one trillion U.S. barrels (42 gallons per barrel) of in-place shale oil. 

Many hundreds of exploratory boreholes were drilled into the Green River oil shale deposits in the three States, and thousands of shale-oil analyses were made by the modified Fischer assay method developed by the former U.S. Bureau of Mines (USBM) (Stanfield and Frost, 1949) of drill cores and cuttings from these holes, mostly in the 1970s and 1980s. Over the past 30 years, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) acquired  these assays and other shale-oil assays made by private laboratories, as well as geophysical and lithologic logs, stratigraphic data, and other borehole information. A database of the digitized Fischer assay data for the Green River oil shale deposits in Colorado  was released by the USGS in 1998 (Dyni, 1998).

This database includes drill hole data on the Green River oil shale deposits in the Uinta Basin, in northeastern Utah. The database is not complete, but is being released at this time because of current interest by private companies and by Federal and State governments interested in developing an oil shale industry. Although the digital data have been checked, errors are anticipated. The reader is encouraged to send corrections to the senior author.

OVERVIEW

This database includes information obtained from several hundred exploratory holes drilled into the Eocene Green River oil shale deposits in the Uinta Basin, in northeastern Utah. Many of these holes were cored and sampled for shale oil analyses; others were oil and gas wells from which rotary cuttings were analyzed for shale oil.
    
The data are divided into six groups: (1) shale oil analyses (Fischer assays) in ASCII format, (2) PDF files of the assay laboratory reports, (3) Adobe Acrobat PDF images of geophysical logs of the exploratory holes, (4) Adobe Acrobat PDF images of lithologic logs of the core holes, (5) a drill hole reference file in a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet, and (6) a stratigraphy file in a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet that lists stratigraphic depths of oil shale marker beds and zones and several key volcanic tuff beds.
    
Many of the shale oil analyses were made in the oil shale laboratory of the former U.S. Bureau of Mines in Laramie, Wyo., but they also include analyses made by private laboratories that were donated by energy companies to the U.S. Geological Survey.

PRODUCTS

This database includes (1) digitized Fischer assays, (2) computer images of the assay laboratory reports, (3) computer images of geophysical logs, (4) computer images of lithologic logs, (5) a drill hole reference file, and 6) a stratigraphy file.

Fischer assays

The digitized Fischer assay directory includes 587 sets of Fischer assays for about 210 core holes and for about 372 rotary holes drilled for oil and gas. The assays are in ASCII format for easy transfer of data to programs of the reader?s choice. Although many samples were assayed for shale oil by private laboratories, the majority of samples were assayed by the USBM laboratories, Laramie, Wyo. All of the assays were digitized and are in the same format as used by the USBM. The assay data for the rotary-drilled holes should be used with caution because of possible mixing of cuttings and inaccurate lag times upon retrieval of sample cuttings.

Each drill hole was assigned a unique USGS number beginning with the letter ?U? for Utah followed by a three-digit number. For rotary holes, the letter ?R? is appended to the USGS number. The first line of each file includes the company and drill hole name followed by the well location (township, range, and section). 

  Column 1: U.S. Bureau of Mines laboratory number
         2: Depth to top of the sampled interval, in feet
         3: Depth to bottom of sampled interval, in feet
         4. Shale oil, weight percent
         5. Water, weight percent
         6. Spent shale, weight percent
         7. ?Gas plus? loss, weight percent
         8. Shale oil, U.S. gallons of oil per short ton of rock
         9. Water, U.S. gallons of water per short ton of rock
        10. Specific gravity of oil
        11. Tendency of spent shale to coke.

A data field identified by ?0.0B? means information is not available, most commonly owing to missing samples. The ASCI assay files can be opened by Microsoft Word, Notepad, Personal Editor II, or by numerous freeware programs.

Fischer assay images

Computer images of laboratory reports of the Fischer assays are in Adobe Acrobat PDF format and are identified by their USGS borehole number. These records have the name and location of the borehole and may contain additional information about the samples in footnotes that may be useful to the reader. They can also be used to cross check the digitized assay data. The images can by opened by Acrobat Reader.

Geophysical logs

The geophysical logs of the boreholes are in TIFF format and include sonic, density, temperature, neutron, caliper, electric, elastic properties, and kerogen analysis logs. The logs are identified by the USGS borehole number.  The types of logs vary from hole to hole. For some drill holes, geophysical logs were not made or are not available. The TIFF images can be opened in software programs including Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop CS2 and later, and by freeware programs, such as Bravareader and Iview.

Lithologic log images

The lithologic log directory includes 160 files identified by the USGS borehole number and includes lithologic descriptions of drill cores, many prepared by the USBM. Depths of lithologic units are in feet. These files are also in Adobe Acrobat PDF format and can be opened with Acrobat Reader.

Drill hole reference file

The drill hole reference file is in a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet. The file lists 685 USGS numbered drill holes that penetrate the Green River oil shale deposits in the Uinta Basin. Many of these holes were rotary drilled for oil and gas, and cuttings from some were not assayed for shale oil. The geophysical logs of these holes are included in this database because of their usefulness in stratigraphic studies and for estimating shale-oil yields. The UTM and latitude and longitude locations of the boreholes were determined by a computer program that is available at http://www.waterrights.utah.gov/gisinfo/default.asp.

The data in the drill hole reference file include the operator and borehole name; the borehole location by footages in feet, section, township, and range, UTM, and geodetic coordinates; year drilled; total depth and elevation; cored interval, core location; sequence analyzed by Fischer assay, number of assays, and laboratory and date of analyses. Top and bottom depths of sequences, in feet, are given for the following logs: lithology, density, neutron (porosity), sonic, electric, gamma ray, elastic properties, ?Com-Pro? (kerogen analysis), spinner, and radioactive tracer.

Stratigraphy file
The stratigraphy file contains depths, in feet, to oil shale marker beds and oil shale zones determined from bar graphs of the shale-oil yields of drill cores and several key volcanic tuff beds. Many of these units can be traced over long distances within the Uinta Basin and eastward in to the Piceance Creek Basin in Colorado. Figures 1 and 2 show the vertical distribution of these units. The file, which includes data for 232 core holes, is in a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet.

MINIMUM SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

-  Adobe Acrobat Reader, version 7.0 or higher, for reading the PDF files.
     (available at http://www.adobe.com)  

-  TIFF file reader such as:
     Brava Reader (available at http://www.bravaviewer.com/reader.htm)      
     IrfanView (available at http://www.irfanview.com)
     FFView (available at http://www.feedface.com/projects/ffview.html)
     
(Brava Reader and IrfanView are for Microsoft Windows-based computers, while FFView is for Macintosh OS X-based computers.)

Adobe Acrobat Reader minimum system Requirements

Adobe Reader 7.0 MS Windows

-  Intel Pentium-class processor
-  Windows XP Professional or Home Edition with SP1 or SP2, or Tablet PC Edition; Microsoft Windows 2000 with Service Pack 2 (SP2)
-  128 MB of RAM
-  90 MB of available hard-disk space for the full version
-  800 x 600 monitor resolution

Adobe Reader 7.0 Macintosh

-  PowerPC G3, G4, G5 processor
-  Mac OS X v.10.2.8 or 10.3
-  128 MB of RAM
-  80 MB of available hard disk space (110 MB required for the full version)
-  800 x 600 screen resolution.

REFERENCES

Dyni, J.R., 1998, Fischer assays of oil-shale drill cores and rotary cuttings from the Piceance Creek Basin, Colorado: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 98-483, v. 1 (1 CD-ROM).

Dyni, J.R., 2006, Geology and resources of some world oil-shale deposits: U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Report 2005-5294, 42 p.; available online only at URL <http://pubs.usgs.gov/sir/2005/5294/>.

Stanfield, K.E., and Frost, I.C., 1949, Method of assaying oil shale by a modified Fischer retort: U.S. Bureau of Mines Report of Investigations 4479, 13 p.[This method was adopted by the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) and was published as Designation D 3904-80: Standard test method for oil from oil shale (resource evaluation by the USBM Fischer assay procedure, Part 25, p. 513-525. The method has since been abandoned by ASTM.]

DISCLAIMERS

This DVD publication was prepared by an agency of the United States Government. Neither the United States Government nor any agency thereof, nor any of their employees, makes any warrant, expressed or implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product, or process disclosed in this report, or represents that its use would not infringe privately owned rights. Reference therein to any specific commercial product, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise does not constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the United States Government or any agency thereof. Although all data and software published on this DVD have been used by the U.S. Geological Survey, no warrant, expressed or implied, is made by the U.S. Geological Survey as to the accuracy of the data and related materials and (or) the functioning of the software. The act of distribution shall not constitute any such warranty, and no responsibility is assumed by the U.S. Geological Survey in the use of this data, software, or related materials.

DISTRIBUTION INFORMATION

Contact:
U.S. Geological Survey Information Services
Box 25286
Building 810 Denver Federal Center
Denver, CO 80225-0086
1-888-ASK-USGS
