Oil shale and nahcolite resources of the Piceance Basin, Colorado

Data Series 69-Y
National Assessment of Oil and Gas Project
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Abstract

This report presents an in-place assessment of the oil shale and nahcolite resources of the Green River Formation in the Piceance Basin of western Colorado. The Piceance Basin is one of three large structural and sedimentary basins that contain vast amounts of oil shale resources in the Green River Formation of Eocene age. The other two basins, the Uinta Basin of eastern Utah and westernmost Colorado, and the Greater Green River Basin of southwest Wyoming, northwestern Colorado, and northeastern Utah also contain large resources of oil shale in the Green River Formation, and these two basins will be assessed separately. Estimated in-place oil is about 1.5 trillion barrels, based on Fischer a ssay results from boreholes drilled to evaluate oil shale, making it the largest oil shale deposit in the world. The estimated in-place nahcolite resource is about 43.3 billion short tons.

Study Area

Publication type Report
Publication Subtype USGS Numbered Series
Title Oil shale and nahcolite resources of the Piceance Basin, Colorado
Series title Data Series
Series number 69
Chapter Y
DOI 10.3133/dds069Y
Year Published 2010
Language English
Publisher U.S. Geological Survey
Contributing office(s) Central Energy Resources Science Center
Description HTML Document: CD-ROM; 2 Databases
Country United States
State Colorado
Other Geospatial Piceance Basin
Online Only (Y/N) N
Additional Online Files (Y/N) Y
Google Analytic Metrics Metrics page
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