Geology topics
Publications and source records attributed to Thomas M. Finn.
Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated undiscovered, technically recoverable mean resources of 10.5 billion barrels of oil and 271.5 trillion cubic feet of gas within 33 geologic provinces of Southeast Asia.
Building on a geology-based assessment of undiscovered, technically recoverable petroleum resources in the Eagle Ford Group in south Texas, the U.S. Geological Survey has estimated the required water and proppant demands and formation water production volumes associated with possible future development of these petroleum resources. The results of the water and proppant assessment are presented here, along with related drilling information and relevant water budget volumes for the region.
The Bighorn Basin is a large intermontane sedimentary and structural basin that formed during the Laramide orogeny. The first commercial hydrocarbon production in the Bighorn Basin was established in 1906 from Cretaceous reservoirs at Garland field followed by the discovery of Greybull field in 1907. Since then, many important conventional oil and gas resources have been discovered from reservoirs ranging in age from Cambrian to Tertiary. In addition, a potential continuous (unconventional) basin-centered gas accumulation may be present in Cretaceous reservoirs in the deeper parts of the basin. The maps presented in this report were constructed as part of a project carried out by the U.S. Geological Survey to better characterize the geologic framework of potential undiscovered continuous (unconventional) oil and gas resources of the Niobrara interval of the Upper Cretaceous Cody Shale in the Bighorn Basin in north-central Wyoming and south-central Montana.
Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated undiscovered, technically recoverable mean resources of 290 milllion barrels of shale oil and 7.9 trillion cubic feet of shale gas in the Ordovician Collingwood-Utica Shale Total Petroleum System of the Michigan Basin Province.
Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated undiscovered, technically recoverable mean resources of 4.6 billion barrels of oil and 561 trillion cubic feet of gas in the Lower Silurian Shale Total Petroleum System of the Arabian Peninsula.
Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated undiscovered, technically recoverable mean resources of 30.5 trillion cubic feet of tight gas in the Grand Erg/Ahnet Province of Algeria.
Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated undiscovered, technically recoverable mean resources of 3.6 billion barrels of oil and 8.9 trillion cubic feet of natural gas (associated and nonassociated) in conventional accumulations in Mississippian through Paleogene strata in the central North Slope of Alaska.
Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated undiscovered, technically recoverable mean resources of 5.6 billion barrels of oil and 109.1 trillion cubic feet of gas in the Jurassic Hanifa-Tuwaiq Total Petroleum System of the Arabian Peninsula.
Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated undiscovered, technically recoverable mean resources of 118 million barrels of continuous oil and 170 billion cubic feet of continuous gas in the Jurassic Posidonia Shale Total Petroleum System of western Greece and southern Albania.
In 2013, a continuous 624-foot core hole was drilled and logged by the U.S. Geological Survey in Natrona County, Wyoming, with the goal to better understand Cretaceous source rocks in the Wind River Basin. The core hole, named the Alcova Reservoir AR–1–13, penetrated the interval extending from the upper part of the Lower Cretaceous Cloverly Formation to the lower part of the Upper Cretaceous Frontier Formation. The lithologies are predominantly mudrock, with minor amounts of sandstone and altered volcanic ash beds that were deposited in open marine, nearshore marine, and fluvial settings. Samples were collected from open marine clay-rich, dark-colored mudrocks, and these were analyzed for total organic carbon content and by programmed pyrolysis analysis. The results show that the lower part of the Frontier Formation, Shell Creek Shale equivalent, and the Thermopolis Shale contain Type III gas-prone kerogen, with poor to fair generative source rock potential. The upper part of the Mowry Shale has good to excellent generative potential, with organic matter composed mainly of Type II oil-prone kerogen with some mixed Type II/III kerogen capable of generating oil and gas.
Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated undiscovered, technically recoverable mean resources of 144 million barrels of shale oil and 559 billion cubic feet of shale gas in the Mississippian Delle Phosphatic Member of the Woodman Formation in the Eastern Great Basin Province of Nevada, Utah, and Idaho.
Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated undiscovered, technically recoverable mean resources of 1.4 trillion cubic feet of continuous gas in the Phosphoria Formation of the Southwestern Wyoming Province, Wyoming.
Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated means of 534 million barrels of oil and 939 billion cubic feet of gas in the Niobrara interval of the Cody Shale in the Bighorn Basin Province, Wyoming and Montana.
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) quantitatively assessed the potential for undiscovered, technically recoverable continuous oil and gas resources in the Eastern Great Basin Province (Anna and others, 2007) of Nevada, Utah, and Idaho (fig. 1). The assessment focused on the area of the province between the Roberts Mountains and Sevier thrust systems (Peterson, 1994). The major petroleum source rocks within this area are the Upper Devonian–Lower Mississippian Pilot Shale and the Mississippian Chainman Formation (Gutschick and Rodriquez, 1979; Poole and Claypool, 1984; Giles, 1994; Trexler and others, 1995). The geologic model applied to the Pilot Shale and shales in the Chainman Formation is for these shales to have achieved generative maturity for oil by burial to at least 8,700 feet (2,652 meters) within some of the Neogene extensional basins (Grabb, 1994; Anna and others, 2007). Areas that satisfy this depth requirement were defined using modeled gravity data that were calibrated to the petroleum system in Railroad Valley and Pine Valley in Nevada (Barker and Peterson, 1991; Ïnan and Davis, 1994; Meissner, 1995; Anna and others, 2007).
Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated undiscovered, technically recoverable mean resources of 23.7 billion barrels of shale oil and 23 trillion cubic feet of associated gas in the onshore part of the Sirte Basin Province of Libya.
Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated undiscovered, technically recoverable mean resources of 16.4 billion barrels of oil and 106.3 trillion cubic feet of gas in the Sirte and Pelagian Basin Provinces of Libya, Tunisia, Malta, and Italy.
Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated undiscovered, technically recoverable mean resources of 378 million barrels of oil and 7 trillion cubic feet of gas in the Grand Erg/Ahnet Province of Algeria.
Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated undiscovered, technically recoverable mean resources of 241 million barrels of tight oil and 10.1 trillion cubic feet of tight gas in the Junggar and Santanghu Basins of northwestern China.