USGS: Huge Volumes of Untapped Reserves in Wyoming, Colorado

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Written by Daniel Graeber for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--There could be more than 400 million barrels of oil and 25 trillion cubic feet of natural gas in undiscovered reserves yet to be tapped in parts of Wyoming and northeast Colorado, a U.S. government study found.

The Mowry petroleum system, which consists of sandstone and shale plays in the Rocky Mountain states, could hold 473 million barrels of oil and 27 trillion cubic feet of natural gas as undiscovered and technically recoverable reserves, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) reported Thursday.

"USGS energy assessments typically focus on undiscovered resources -- areas where science tells us there may be a resource that industry hasn't discovered yet," said Acting USGS Director Sarah Ryker. "In this case, our assessment found substantial undiscovered, technically recoverable oil and gas resources."

The system has yielded 7.3 trillion cubic feet of natural gas and 90 million barrels of oil since exploration began in the 1950s. For gas, that would meet 90 days of domestic demand, the agency said.

The basin in question is part of a prehistoric, shallow-water ocean that covered most of the Rocky Mountain region. It's situated just west of the Niobrara shale basin, largely covering parts of Wyoming and Colorado.

Niobrara during the first quarter was only a minor oil and gas producer, yielding only a half-million barrels of oil per day (BBL/d) and 2.9 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) in natural gas. The Appalachia Basin largely covering Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia is the largest inland gas producer, with an average close to 36 Bcf/d, while the Permian basin in Texas is the largest oil producer with an average of 6.5 million BBL/d.

In response to an Arab oil embargo on the United States for its policies on Israel in the 1970s, the USGS is mandated to study the domestic resource potential. USGS in early May released data from a years-long study of the Hosston and Travis Peak formations that stretch along the Gulf Coast from Florida to Texas.

In its study, the agency estimated the technical recoverable reserves of undiscovered resources at 28 million barrels of oil and 35.8 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.

The United States is the global leader in both crude oil and natural gas production, though inland reservoirs are yielding more gas as the pressure in the basins changes due to production and maturation.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), part of the Energy Department, expects total U.S. crude oil production to average 13.42 million BBL/d, a 1.6% increase over year-ago levels. Natural gas production should average 115.1 Bcf/d this year, a 1.6% increase over last year.

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