Preliminary Geospatial Analysis of Arctic Ocean Hydrocarbon Resources

• Main Authors: Long, Philip E., Wurstner, Signe K., Sullivan, E. C., Schaef, Herbert T., Bradley, Donald J.
• Language: unknown
• Published: 2010
• Subjects: 03 NATURAL GAS; ARCTIC OCEAN; CHUKCHI SEA; DISTRIBUTION; EXPLORATION; GAS HYDRATES; HYDROCARBONS; LEASING; METHANE; NAVIGATION; OWNERSHIP; PIPELINES; PRODUCTION; REFINING; RESOURCE POTENTIAL; SOURCE ROCKS; Arctic; Arctic Ocean; Chukchi Sea; Bering Strait; Arctic Basin; Chukchi; Lomonosov Ridge
• Online Access: http://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/958008; https://www.osti.gov/biblio/958008; https://doi.org/10.2172/958008

Ice coverage of the Arctic Ocean is predicted to become thinner and to cover less area with time. The combination of more ice-free waters for exploration and navigation, along with increasing demand for hydrocarbons and improvements in technologies for the discovery and exploitation of new hydrocarbon resources have focused attention on the hydrocarbon potential of the Arctic Basin and its margins. The purpose of this document is to 1) summarize results of a review of published hydrocarbon resources in the Arctic, including both conventional oil and gas and methane hydrates and 2) develop a set of digital maps of the hydrocarbon potential of the Arctic Ocean. These maps can be combined with predictions of ice-free areas to enable estimates of the likely regions and sequence of hydrocarbon production development in the Arctic. In this report, conventional oil and gas resources are explicitly linked with potential gas hydrate resources. This has not been attempted previously and is particularly powerful as the likelihood of gas production from marine gas hydrates increases. Available or planned infrastructure, such as pipelines, combined with the geospatial distribution of hydrocarbons is a very strong determinant of the temporal-spatial development of Arctic hydrocarbon resources. Significant unknowns decrease the certainty of predictions for development of hydrocarbon resources. These include: 1) Areas in the Russian Arctic that are poorly mapped, 2) Disputed ownership: primarily the Lomonosov Ridge, 3) Lack of detailed information on gas hydrate distribution, and 4) Technical risk associated with the ability to extract methane gas from gas hydrates. Logistics may control areas of exploration more than hydrocarbon potential. Accessibility, established ownership, and leasing of exploration blocks may trump quality of source rock, reservoir, and size of target. With this in mind, the main areas that are likely to be explored first are the Bering Strait and Chukchi Sea, in spite of the fact that these areas do not ...