thumbnail

Geology and assessment of undiscovered oil and gas resources of the Yukon Flats Basin Province, 2008

Professional Paper 1824-F
By:  and 
Edited by: Thomas E. Moore and Donald L. Gautier
https://doi.org/10.3133/pp1824F

Links

Abstract

The hydrocarbon potential of the Yukon Flats Basin Province in Central Alaska was assessed in 2004 as part of an update to the National Oil and Gas Assessment. Three assessment units (AUs) were identified and assessed using a methodology somewhat different than that of the 2008 Circum-Arctic Resource Appraisal (CARA). An important difference in the methodology of the two assessments is that the 2004 assessment specified a minimum accumulation size of 0.5 million barrels of oil equivalent (MMBOE), whereas the 2008 CARA assessment specified a minimum size of 50 MMBOE. The 2004 assessment concluded that >95 percent of the estimated mean undiscovered oil and gas resources occur in a single AU, the Tertiary Sandstone AU. This is also the only AU of the three that extends north of the Arctic Circle.

For the CARA project, the number of oil and gas accumulations in the 2004 assessment of the Tertiary Sandstone AU was re-evaluated in terms of the >50-MMBOE minimum accumulation size. By this analysis, and assuming the resource to be evenly distributed across the AU, 0.23 oil fields and 1.20 gas fields larger than 50 MMBOE are expected in the part of the AU north of the Arctic Circle. The geology suggests, however, that the area north of the Arctic Circle has a lower potential for oil and gas accumulations than the area to the south where the sedimentary section is thicker, larger volumes of hydrocarbons may have been generated, and potential structural traps are probably more abundant. Because of the low potential implied for the area of the AU north of the Arctic Circle, the Yukon Flats Tertiary Sandstone AU was not quantitatively assessed for the 2008 CARA.

Suggested Citation

Bird, K.J., and Stanley, R.G., 2017, Geology and assessment of undiscovered oil and gas resources of the Yukon Flats Basin Province, 2008, chap. F of Moore, T.E., and Gautier, D.L., eds., The 2008 Circum-Arctic Resource Appraisal: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1824, 5 p., https://doi.org/10.3133/pp1824F.

ISSN: 2330-7102 (online)

Study Area

Table of Contents

  • Abstract
  • Introduction
  • Geologic Setting and Stratigraphy
  • Petroleum Systems
  • Acknowledgments
  • References Cited
Publication type Report
Publication Subtype USGS Numbered Series
Title Geology and assessment of undiscovered oil and gas resources of the Yukon Flats Basin Province, 2008
Series title Professional Paper
Series number 1824
Chapter F
DOI 10.3133/pp1824F
Year Published 2017
Language English
Publisher U.S. Geological Survey
Publisher location Reston, VA
Contributing office(s) Energy Resources Program
Description vi, 5 p.
Country United States
State Alaska
Other Geospatial Yukon Flats Basin Province
Online Only (Y/N) Y
Google Analytic Metrics Metrics page
Additional publication details