MAJOR PLAYS IN UTAH AND VICINITY

• Main Authors: Morgan, Craig D., Chidsey, Thomas C.
• Other Authors: United States
• Format: Report
• Language: English
• Published: Utah Geological Survey (United States) 2003
• Subjects: Source Rocks; Uinta Basin; 02 Petroleum; Dimensions; Sediments; Pipelines; Land Use; Petroleum; Reservoir Rock; Drilling; Internet; Oil Fields; 04 Oil Shales And Tar Sands; Geologic Surveys; Evaluation; Technology Transfer; Seismic Surveys; Castle Peak; Indian; Beluga; Beluga*
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.2172/822413; https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc781749/

Utah oil fields have produced over 1.2 billion barrels (191 million m{sup 3}). However, the 13.7 million barrels (2.2 million m{sup 3}) of production in 2002 was the lowest level in over 40 years and continued the steady decline that began in the mid-1980s. The Utah Geological Survey believes this trend can be reversed by providing play portfolios for the major oil-producing provinces (Paradox Basin, Uinta Basin, and thrust belt) in Utah and adjacent areas in Colorado and Wyoming. Oil plays are geographic areas with petroleum potential caused by favorable combinations of source rock, migration paths, reservoir rock characteristics, and other factors. The play portfolios will include: descriptions and maps of the major oil plays by reservoir; production and reservoir data; case-study field evaluations; summaries of the state-of-the-art drilling, completion, and secondary/tertiary techniques for each play; locations of major oil pipelines; descriptions of reservoir outcrop analogs; and identification and discussion of land-use constraints. All play maps, reports, databases, and so forth, produced for the project will be published in interactive, menu-driven digital (web-based and compact disc) and hard-copy formats. This report covers research activities for the first quarter of the second project year (July 1 through September 30, 2003). This work included (1) describing the Conventional Southern Uinta Basin Play, subplays, and outcrop reservoir analogs of the Uinta Green River Conventional Oil and Gas Assessment Unit (Eocene Green River Formation), and (2) technology transfer activities. The Conventional Oil and Gas Assessment Unit can be divided into plays having a dominantly southern sediment source (Conventional Southern Uinta Basin Play) and plays having a dominantly northern sediment source (Conventional Northern Uinta Basin Play). The Conventional Southern Uinta Basin Play is divided into six subplays: (1) conventional Uteland Butte interval, (2) conventional Castle Peak interval, (3) conventional Travis interval, (4) conventional Monument Butte interval, (5) conventional Beluga interval, and (6) conventional Duchesne interval fractured shale/marlstone. We are currently conducting basin-wide correlations to define the limits of the six subplays. Production-scale outcrop analogs provide an excellent view, often in three dimensions, of reservoir-facies characteristics and boundaries contributing to the overall heterogeneity of reservoir rocks. They can be used as a ''template'' for evaluation of data from conventional core, geophysical and petrophysical logs, and seismic surveys. Outcrop analogs for each subplay except the Travis interval are found in Indian and Nine Mile Canyons. During this quarter, the project team members submitted an abstract to the American Association of Petroleum Geologists for presentation at the 2004 annual national convention in Dallas, Texas. The project home page was updated on the Utah Geological Survey Internet web site.