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Chapter 3: Geologic Assessment of Undiscovered Oil and Gas Chapter 3 Geologic Assessment of Undiscovered Oil and Gas Resources in the Phosphoria Total Petroleum System of the Wind River Basin Province, Wyoming Volume Title Page By M.A. Kirschbaum, P.G. Lillis, and L.N.R. Roberts Chapter 3 of Petroleum Systems and Geologic Assessment of Oil and Gas in the Wind River Basin Province, Wyoming Compiled by USGS Wind River Basin Province Assessment Team U.S. Geological Survey Digital Data Series DDS–69–J U.S. Department of the Interior U.S. Geological Survey U.S. Department of the Interior DIRK KEMPTHORNE, Secretary U.S. Geological Survey Mark D. Myers, Director U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, Virginia: 2007 For product and ordering information: World Wide Web: http://www.usgs.gov/pubprod Telephone: 1–888–ASK–USGS For more information on the USGS—the Federal source for science about the Earth, its natural and living resources, natural hazards, and the environment: World Wide Web: http://www.usgs.gov Telephone:1–888–ASK–USGS Any use of trade, product, or firm names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government. Although this report is in the public domain, permission must be secured from the individual copyright owners to reproduce any copyrighted materials contained within this report. Suggested citation: Kirschbaum, M.A., Lillis, P.G., and Roberts, L.N.R., 2007, Geologic assessment of undiscovered oil and gas resources in the Phos- phoria Total Petroleum System of the Wind River Basin Province, Wyoming, in USGS Wind River Basin Province assessment team, Petroleum systems and geologic assessment of oil and gas in the Wind River Basin Province, Wyoming: U.S. Geological Survey Digital Data Series DDS–69–J, ch. 3, 27 p. ISBN 1-4113-2027-7 iii Contents Abstract ……………………………………………………………………………………… 1 Introduction …………………………………………………………………………………… 1 Structural Geology …………………………………………………………………………… 3 Phosphoria Total Petroleum System ………………………………………………………… 5 Source Rocks …………………………………………………………………………… 6 Oil Characterization and Distribution …………………………………………………… 6 Maturation and Migration ………………………………………………………………… 7 Stratigraphic units and reservoir rocks …………………………………………………… 8 Madison Limestone (Mississippian) ………………………………………………… 8 Amsden Formation (Mississippian and Pennsylvanian) ……………………………… 10 Tensleep Sandstone (Pennsylvanian) ………………………………………………… 10 Phosphoria, Park City, and Goose Egg Formations (Permian) ………………………… 10 Dinwoody Formation (Triassic) ……………………………………………………… 11 Chugwater Group (Triassic) …………………………………………………………… 11 Nugget Sandstone (Jurassic) ………………………………………………………… 11 Gypsum Spring Formation (Jurassic) ………………………………………………… 11 Sundance Formation (Jurassic) ……………………………………………………… 11 Traps ……………………………………………………………………………………… 15 Seals ……………………………………………………………………………………… 17 Resource Assessment ………………………………………………………………………… 17 Assessment Unit 50350101 Tensleep-Park City Conventional Oil and Gas AU …………… 17 Assessment Results ……………………………………………………………………… 18 Acknowledgments …………………………………………………………………………… 21 References …………………………………………………………………………………… 21 Appendix A. Input data for the Tensleep-Park City Conventional Oil and Gas Assessment Unit 25 Figures 1. Index map of the Wind River Basin Province, Wyoming …………………………………… 2 2. Histogram of number of new field wildcat wells …………………………………………… 2 3. Generalized tectonic map of the Wind River Basin Province ……………………………… 3 4. Structure contour map, top of the Park City Formation …………………………………… 4 5. Petroleum system events chart Phosphoria Total Petroleum System ……………………… 5 6. Columnar section of units in the Phosphoria Total Petroleum System ……………………… 5 7. Organic carbon and black shale facies in the Phosphoria Formation ……………………… 6 8. Geochemistry of oil ………………………………………………………………………… 7 9. Fence diagram from northern Utah to the Wind River Basin ……………………………… 8 iv 10. Timing of oil cracking to gas ……………………………………………………………… 9 11. Stratigraphic cross section western part of the Wind River Basin ……………………12, 13 12. Photographs of main reservoir units in the Wind River Basin Province …………………… 15 13. Lithofacies and paleogeography of the Meade Peak Member …………………………… 16 14. Depth to the top of the Park City Formation ……………………………………………… 18 15. Plots of grown oil accumulations (fields) ………………………………………………… 19 16. Depositional environment of hypothesized reservoirs …………………………………… 20 Table 1. Summary of assessment results for the Phosphoria Total Petroleum System …………… 20 Plate 1. Stratigraphic cross section showing TPS units in Wind River Basin and Bighorn Basin ……… 27 Geologic Assessment of Undiscovered Oil and Gas Resources in the Phosphoria Total Petroleum System of the Wind River Basin Province, Wyoming By M.A. Kirschbaum, P.G. Lillis, and L.N.R. Roberts Abstract The Phosphoria Total Petroleum System (TPS) Conventional Oil and Gas AU total 18 million barrels of oil, encompasses the entire Wind River Basin Province, an area of 294 billion cubic feet of gas, and 5.9 million barrels of natural 4.7 million acres in central Wyoming. The source rocks most gas liquids. likely are black, organic-rich shales of the Meade Peak and Retort Phosphatic Shale Members of the Permian Phosphoria Formation located in the Wyoming and Idaho thrust belt to the west and southwest of the province. Petroleum was Introduction generated and expelled during Jurassic and Cretaceous time in westernmost Wyoming and is interpreted to have migrated The purpose of this study is to assess the potential for into the province through carrier beds of the Pennsylvanian undiscovered oil and gas resources from the Phosphoria Total Tensleep Sandstone where it was preserved in hypothesized Petroleum System (TPS) in the Wind River Basin Province, regional stratigraphic traps in the Tensleep and Permian Wyoming (fig. 1). The TPS approach to resource assessment Park City Formation. Secondary migration occurred during used here is based on defining an area of mature source rock the development of structural traps associated with the and all known and undiscovered reservoirs, and requires an Laramide orogeny. The main reservoirs are in the Tensleep understanding of petroleum generation, trap formation, and Sandstone and Park City Formation and minor reservoirs reservoir seal capacity, which are the primary factors needed are in the Mississippian Madison Limestone, Mississippian- for oil and gas accumulation to exist (Magoon and Dow, 1994). Pennsylvanian Amsden Formation, Triassic Chugwater Group, The petroleum system approach used in this assessment is and Jurassic Nugget Sandstone and Sundance Formation. different from that used in the 1995 assessment in the basin by The traps are sealed by shale or evaporite beds of the Park Fox and Dolton (1996), although the methodology is similar. City, Amsden, and Triassic Dinwoody Formations, Triassic The Tensleep-Park City Assessment Unit (AU) defined here Chugwater Group, and Jurassic Gypsum Spring Formation. corresponds to the Phosphoria Formation-sourced part of the A single conventional oil and gas assessment unit (AU), Basin Margin Subthrust, Basin Margin Anticline, and Deep the Tensleep-Park City AU, was defined for the Phosphoria Basin Structure plays (3501-3503) and to six hypothetical TPS. Both the AU and TPS cover the entire Wind River stratigraphic-trap plays (3506-3513) as defined in the 1995 Basin Province. Oil is produced from 18 anticlinal fields, the assessment (Fox and Dolton, 1996). There have been about last of which was discovered in 1957, and the possibility of 425 new-field wildcats drilled since the last oil discovery in discovering new structural oil accumulations is considered to 1957 and about 275 new-field wildcats drilled since the last gas be relatively low. Nonassociated gas is produced from only discovery in 1965 (fig. 2). No new fields have been discovered, two fields, but may be underexplored in the province. The in the years since the 1995 assessment by Fox and Dolton discovery of new gas is more promising, but will be from (1996). The assessment unit has been evaluated using concepts deep structures. The bulk of new oil and gas accumulations is developed during this and previous assessments in light of any dependent on the discovery of hypothesized stratigraphic traps new advances in the geology of the area and by using analogs in isolated carbonate reservoirs of the Park City Formation. from the Bighorn Basin, Wyoming, and the Paradox Basin, Mean resource estimates for the Tensleep-Park City Colorado, to provide insights into possible undiscovered fields. 2 Assessment of Undiscovered Oil and Gas in the Wind River Basin Province, Wyoming 110° W 109° W 108° W 107° W 44° N Park Phosphoria TPS Gas well 20 Phosphoria TPS Oil well Producer from stratigraphically Hot Springs Washakie higher JohnsonTPS Abandoned,Kaycee injection, or other well Teton Dry hole l River Thermopolis Dubois Powder 26 Wind Wind River n 287 Indian Reservation e Riv 25 e e Boysen r r G Reservoir River Ocean Lake Bull Lake Natrona Fremont Sublette Riverton 26 20 43° N Casper Pinedale Lander 189 Platte 351 North MT Jeffrey City 0 15 30 Miles River ID WY 287 Sweetwater Pathfinder WYOMING Reservoir Carbon Figure 1. Index map of the Wind River Basin Province, central Wyoming, showing boundaries of Phosphoria Total Petroleum System (TPS) and Tensleep-Park City Assessment Unit (AU), (which are coincident, all within red line); Wind River Indian Reserva- tion (gray shaded area); locations of oil and gas wells producing from the Tensleep-Park City Assessment Unit within the Phosphoria TPS and of wells that penetrate all or part of
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