USGS assesses upper Paleozoic reservoir potential
The US Geological Survey (USGS) released its assessment of potential for undiscovered oil and gas in formations in Wyoming and parts of southern Montana as well as parts of western South Dakota and Nebraska.
The assessment determined that there are 47 million bbl of oil and 876 bcf of gas technically recoverable resources in upper Paleozoic reservoirs of Wind River basin, Bighorn basin, and Powder River basin provinces.
The USGS Energy Resources Program uses two methodologies for reserves assessment: one for conventional oil and gas resources and one for unconventional (continuous) oil and gas resources (such as shale gas and coalbed gas). The range of assessments changes with the technology available to produce oil.
Since exploration began in the area in the 1920s, the upper Paleozoic reservoirs of the Wind River, Bighorn, and Powder River basins have produced 4 billion bbl of oil – as much oil as the US consumes in 6 months at the current rate of consumption.
Alex Procyk | Upstream Editor
Alex Procyk is Upstream Editor at Oil & Gas Journal. He has also served as a principal technical professional at Halliburton and as a completion engineer at ConocoPhillips. He holds a BS in chemistry (1987) from Kent State University and a PhD in chemistry (1992) from Carnegie Mellon University. He is a member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE).
