September 28, 2006

The Utah Oil Shale Database, UGS Open-File Report 469, was put together to archive historical oil shale data from exploration and research conducted on Utah’s oil shale deposits.

With the cooperation of the U.S. Geological Survey and the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, the Utah Geological Survey (UGS) has gathered and organized into a usable electronic format, hundreds of important oil-shale-related documents, reports, and geophysical logs, all of which should be invaluable resources as new oil shale research projects are developed.

The largest known oil shale deposits in the world are located in the Eocene Green River Formation, which covers portions of Utah, Colorado, and Wyoming. The organic matter preserved in the shale is kerogen, which when heated can produce crude oil and natural gas.

Estimates of the in-ground oil resource within the Green River Formation range from 1.5 trillion to 1.8 trillion barrels. The Utah portion of this resource, located in the Uinta Basin, varies from 165 billion to 321 billion barrels. As a comparison, the total U.S. conventional crude oil proved reserves are estimated at 21.4 billion barrels, Saudi Arabia’s reserves at 266.8 billion barrels, and the world’s proved reserves at 1.3 trillion barrels.

Estimated recoverable reserves of crude oil from oil shale deposits in Utah are presumably much less, but specific numbers are unknown as proven commercial shale oil recovery technology is currently not available.

Files in the Utah Oil Shale Database include: Fischer assays for 581 wells made from drill cores and cuttings (Fischer assays are the primary chemical analysis to determine gallons of shale oil per ton of rock for a particular sample), scanned geophysical logs for 173 different wells, an inventory of paper logs for an additional 290 wells available in the UGS library, detailed well location information, lithologic descriptions for 168 wells, depths to the tops of particular horizons within the Eocene Green River Formation, an extensive Utah oil shale bibliography, and an overview Utah oil shale resource map.

The Utah Oil Shale Database is available for $24.95 on two CDs at the Natural Resources Map & Bookstore, 1594 West North Temple, Salt Lake City (801-537-3320 or 1-888-UTAHMAP; mapstore.utah.gov).