Characterization of Utah's Hydrocarbon Reservoirs
and Potential New Reserves

Introduction

Coal-bed methane well in Castlegate field.

The Utah Geological Survey, using mineral lease funds, started a new program in 2004 titled Characterization of Utah’s Hydrocarbon Reservoirs and Potential New Reserves. The program includes research by UGS staff as well as funding outside research.

The program is designed to help

1. improve the state’s assessment of its hydrocarbon resources,
2. identify reservoir features, untapped compartments, or recovery techniques to encourage more effective exploitation of proven reserves, and
3. expand the understanding of the depositional history, trapping mechanism, source rocks, and generation/migration of hydrocarbons to promote exploration for new or untapped hydrocarbon resources.

2007 Funded Research Projects

Gas well in Natural Buttes field.

The Utah Geological Survey has selected five projects for funding during 2007.

1. Hydrocarbon Potential of Pennsylvanian Black Shale Reservoirs, Paradox Basin, Southeastern Utah, S. Robert Bereskin and John McLennan, Bereskin and Associates, Inc.
2. Reservoir Characterization in the Jurassic Navajo Sandstone, Snow Canyon State Park, Utah (year 2), Majorie Chan and Gregory Nielsen, University of Utah.
3. Reservoir Characterization of the Cretaceous Cedar Mountain and Dakota Formations, Southern Uinta Basin (year 2) (pdf - 70MB), Brian Currie, Miami University of Ohio, and Mary McPherson, McPherson Geologic Consulting, UGS Open-File Report 516.
4. Applicability of Carbon Dioxide Enhanced Oil Recovery to Reservoirs in the Uinta Basin, Utah, Milind Deo, University of Utah.
5. Analysis of Reservoir Properties of Faulted and Fractured Aeolian Thrust-belt Reservoirs, James Evans, Utah State University.

FY2006 Funded Research Projects

The Utah Geological Survey selected five projects for funding during fiscal year 2006 (Oct 1, 2005 – Sept 31, 2006). The final report for four of these projects has been published on CD as UGS open-file reports available through the Natural Resources Map & Bookstore. The report by Majorie Chan and Gregory Nielsen will be released at the completion of the study's second year.

Gas well in Natural Buttes field.

1. Integrated Sequence Stratigraphic and Geochemical Resource Characterization of the Lower Mancos Shale, Uinta Basin, Utah (pdf - 41MB) by Donna S. Anderson and Nicholas B. Harris, Colorado School of Mines, UGS Open-File Report 483.
2. Reservoir Characterization of the Cretaceous Cedar Mountain and Dakota Formations, Southern Uinta Basin: Year-One Report (pdf - 8MB), by Mary L. McPherson, McPherson Geologic Consulting; Brian S. Currie and Justin S. Pierson, Miami University of Ohio, UGS Open-File Report 492.
3. Interpretation of the Jurassic Entrada Sandstone Play Using 3D Seismic Attribute Analysis, Uinta Basin, Utah (pdf - 61MB), by R. William Keach II, Thomas H. Morris, John H. McBride, Brigham Young University; Mike Mullen, Halliburton Energy Sources; Hannes E. Leetaru, Illinois State Geological Survey; and Ryan O’Neal, Brigham Young University, UGS Open-File Report 493.
4. Shale Gas Reservoirs of Utah: Assessment of Previously Undeveloped Gas Discoveries (pdf - 7MB), by Steven Schamel, GeoX Consulting, UGS Open-File Report 499.
5. Majorie Chan and Gregory Nielsen, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, Reservoir Characterization in the Jurassic Navajo Sandstone, Snow Canyon State Park, Utah.

FY2005 Funded Research Projects

The Utah Geological Survey selected four research proposals for funding in FY2005, focusing on research specifically dealing with Utah's natural gas potential.

The final report for each of these projects is now available on CD or DVD as UGS open-file reports available through the Natural Resources Map & Bookstore.

1. Paul B. Anderson, consulting geologist, Salt Lake City, Utah, Mesaverde Gas of Southeastern Uinta Basin. UGS Open-File Report 460.
2. Mark W. Longman, consulting geologist, Lakewood, Colorado, and Randolph J. Koepsell, Schlumberger Oilfield Services, Greenwood Village, Colorado, Defining and Characterizing Mesaverde and Mancos Sandstone Reservoirs Based on Interpretation of Formation MicroImager (FMI) Logs, Eastern Uinta Basin, Utah. Kerr McGee, EOG Resources, Questar, and Schlumberger Corporations (Colorado) contributed to the project. UGS Open-File Report 458.
3. Thomas H. Morris and John H. McBride, Brigham Young University Department of Geology, Provo, Utah, A Multidisciplinary Approach to Reservoir Characterization of the Entrada Erg-Margin Gas Play, Utah. UGS Open-File Report 459.
4. Steven Schamel, GeoX Consulting Inc., Salt Lake City, Utah, Shale-Gas Reservoirs of Utah: Survey of an Unexploited Potential Energy Resource. UGS Open-File Report 461.

Potential Gas Reserves and Plays

Characterization of Utah’s Natural Gas Reservoirs and Potential New Reserves (pdf - 1MB)

Contact

For more information contact Craig Morgan, 801-537-3370 or email: craigmorgan@utah.gov or Tom Chidsey, 801-537-3364, email: tomchidsey@utah.gov.