STRUCTURAL ANALYSIS OF A PROPOSED PULL-APART BASIN: IMPLICATIONS FOR GAS HYDRATE AND ASSOCIATED FREE-GAS EMPLACEMENT, MILNE

• Main Authors: R. R. Casavant, A. M. Hennes, R. A. Johnson, Tim S. Collett
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Milne Point; north slope; Prudhoe Bay; Alaska
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.430.1084; http://www.searchanddiscovery.com/documents/abstracts/2004hedberg_vancouver/extended/casavant/images/casavant.pdf

A robust petroleum system is in place for the generation and emplacement of shallow gas hydrate and associated free-gas resources 1 on the central North Slope of Alaska. A better understanding of the distribution, quality, and quantity of these unconventional resources is the objective of a detailed, interdisciplinary reservoir characterization program at the University of Arizona (UA). If found to be commercially viable, the estimated volume of these unconventional resources across the central North Slope will constitute a significant alternative energy target for the nation. Current interpretations place these resources within the eastern portions of the Kuparuk River and the Milne Point Units (KRU, MPU), and the western edge of the Prudhoe Bay Unit (PBU) 1. The majority of reservoirs are contained within a thick interval of Late Cretaceous to Late Tertiary stacked sequences of fluvial-deltaic and nearshore marine gravels, sands, and shales. Near the MPU, the depths of potential reservoirs range from 220 to 1,400 meters below sea level. Where pressure-temperature conditions are favorable for clathrate formation, gas hydrates have formed within the porous, thin-bedded, multistory sand-rich intervals 1. Individual gas-hydratebearing sands can range in thickness from a few meters to over 30m thick. Across the MPU, the