Chapter 4 Geologic Assessment of Undiscovered Oil and Gas Resources in the Phosphoria Total Petroleum System, Southwestern Wyoming Province, Volume Title Page Wyoming, Colorado, and Utah By Edward A. Johnson Chapter 4 of Petroleum Systems and Geologic Assessment of Oil and Gas in the Southwestern Wyoming Province, Wyoming, Colorado, and Utah By USGS Southwestern Wyoming Province Assessment Team U.S. Geological Survey Digital Data Series DDS–69–D U.S. Department of the Interior U.S. Geological Survey U.S. Department of the Interior Gale A. Norton, Secretary U.S. Geological Survey Charles G. 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Manuscript approved for publication May 10, 2005 ISBN= 0-607-99027-9 Contents Abstract ……………………………………………………………………………………… 1 Introduction …………………………………………………………………………………… 1 Total Petroleum System ……………………………………………………………………… 3 Source Rock ………………………………………………………………………………… 11 Maturation …………………………………………………………………………………… 11 Migration Summary …………………………………………………………………………… 14 Reservoir Rocks ……………………………………………………………………………… 18 Crystalline Rocks ………………………………………………………………………… 19 Flathead Sandstone ……………………………………………………………………… 21 Bighorn Dolomite ………………………………………………………………………… 21 Madison Limestone ……………………………………………………………………… 21 Darwin Sandstone Member ……………………………………………………………… 22 Amsden Formation ……………………………………………………………………… 22 Minturn Formation ……………………………………………………………………… 22 Morgan Formation ……………………………………………………………………… 22 Weber Sandstone ……………………………………………………………………… 23 Tensleep Sandstone …………………………………………………………………… 23 Phosphoria Formation …………………………………………………………………… 24 Red Peak Formation ……………………………………………………………………… 25 Shinarump Member ……………………………………………………………………… 25 Nugget Sandstone ……………………………………………………………………… 25 Entrada Sandstone ……………………………………………………………………… 26 Curtis Formation ………………………………………………………………………… 27 Sundance Formation …………………………………………………………………… 27 Morrison Formation ……………………………………………………………………… 28 Traps and Seals ……………………………………………………………………………… 28 Source Rock Seal ……………………………………………………………………… 28 Traps …………………………………………………………………………………… 29 Reservoir Seals ………………………………………………………………………… 29 Precambrian-Cambrian Level ……………………………………………………… 30 Ordovician Level …………………………………………………………………… 31 Mississippian-Pennsylvanian Level ………………………………………………… 31 Permian Level ……………………………………………………………………… 31 Triassic-Jurassic Level …………………………………………………………… 31 Reservoir Seals in the Sandwash Basin …………………………………………… 32 Sub-Cretaceous Conventional Oil and Gas Assessment unit ………………………………… 32 References Cited ……………………………………………………………………………… 40 III Appendix A. Input data form used in evaluating the Sub-Cretaceous Conventional Oil and Gas Assessment Unit ………………………………………………………………… 45 Appendix B. Summary of assessment results for the Phosphoria Total Petroleum System, Sub-Cretaceous Conventional Oil and Gas Assessment Unit 3. Source rocks and type of petroleum potential for burial-history locations ………………………………………… 46 Figures 1. Index map of Southwestern Wyoming Province ……………………………………… 2 2. Stratigraphic columns for Southwestern Wyoming Province ………………………… 4 3–7. Maps showing: 3. Regional extent of the Phosphoria and Park City Formations …………………… 8 4. Southwestern Wyoming Province related to the Phosphoria and Park City Formations 9 5. Cumulative thickness of black shale facies of the Phosphoria Formation ………… 10 6. Organic carbon in black shale facies of the Phosphoria Formation ……………… 12 7. Drill holes used to construct thermal burial history of Phosphoria Formation …… 15 8. Graph showing timing of oil and late-stage gas generation from the Phosphoria Formation ……………………………………………………………………………… 16 9. Graph showing total petroleum system events chart for Phosphoria Total Petroleum System ………………………………………………………………………………… 16 10. Map showing il and gas fields with reported sub-Cretaceous production …………… 20 11–15. Graphs showing: 11. Oil accumulation size plotted by discovery year …………………………………… 33 12. Oil reservoir depth plotted by discovery year ……………………………………… 35 13. Gas accumulation size plotted by discovery year ………………………………… 35 14. Oil reservoir depth plotted by discovery year ……………………………………… 36 15. Number of new-field wildcats relative to completion year ………………………… 36 16–18. Maps showing: 16. Locations of sub-Cretaceous dry holes …………………………………………… 37 17. Distribution of post-Eocene formations and Quaternary sediments in Southwestern Wyoming Province ………………………………………………………………… 38 18. Distribution of some of commercially avaliable 2-D seismic lines in the Southwestern Wyoming Province ………………………………………………………………… 39 Tables 1. Sub-Cretaceous stratigraphic units known to produce petroleum …………………… 5 2. Possible source rocks for sub-Cretaceous petroleum ………………………………… 5 3. Producing stratigraphic units (oil) plotted by Phosphoria Formation source ………… 6 IV 4. Producing stratigraphic units (gas) plotted by Phosphoria Formation source …………… 7 5. Sub-Cretaceous stratigraphic units known to produce petroleum in order of decreasing number of producing wells ……………………………………………………………… 18 6. Sub-Cretaceous stratigraphic units known to produce petroleum in order of decreasing cumulative oil production ………………………………………………………………… 19 7. Sub-Cretaceous stratigraphic units known to produce petroleum in order of decreasing cumulative gas production ……………………………………………………………… 19 8. Oil and gas fields that have produced petroleum from sub-Cretaceous units …………… 19 9. Sub-Cretaceous producing stratigraphic units and their corresponding seals …………… 30 10. Qualifying oil and gas fields and their producing stratigraphic units ……………………… 33 11. Petroleum exploration timeline for the Southwestern Wyoming Province ………………… 40 V Geologic Assessment of Undiscovered Oil and Gas Resources in the Phosphoria Total Petroleum System, Southwestern Wyoming Province, Wyoming, Colorado, and Utah By Edward A. Johnson Abstract province, plus the 12-mile-wide strip along the western border, and thus is coincident with the area of the Phosphoria Total Petroleum System. The results of the assessment predicted that The Southwestern Wyoming Province conforms to the the number of undiscovered oil accumulations of minimum Greater Green River Basin and covers an area of about 23,000 size or larger in the assessment unit ranges from a minimum square miles. Because the Permian Phosphoria Formation is of 2 to a maximum of 8 (median set at 4), with a range in size relatively high in total organic carbon, is regionally extensive, from a minimum of 0.5 to a maximum of 90 million barrels of and petroleum contained in some sub-Cretaceous stratigraphic oil (median set at 2). The predictions for the number of undis- units in the province can be genetically linked geochemically covered gas accumulations of minimum size or larger range to the Phosphoria, the Phosphoria Total Petroleum System, from a minimum of 5 to a maximum of 45 (median set at 17), covering the whole area of the province plus a 12-mile-wide with a range in size from a minimum of 3 to a maximum of strip along the western border, was established for the pur- 3,600 billion cubic feet of gas (median set at 20). These input pose of oil and gas assessment. The oil-prone source rocks in data are used to calculate potential additions to reserves over the Phosphoria are contained in the Meade Peak and Retort the next 30 years of petroleum in undiscovered conventional Phosphatic Shale Members. These members consist of organic accumulations of 16.60 million barrels of oil, 1,382.90 billion claystone, muddy siltstone, phosphorite, and dolomitic calcli- cubic feet of total gas, and 41.80 million barrels of total natu- thite, and their Type-IIS kerogen has an average total organic ral gas liquid (mean values). carbon content of about 10 weight percent. During the Early Triassic, argillaceous sediments were deposited on top of the Phosphoria, and the resulting Lower Triassic Dinwoody Formation formed a seal on the Phosphoria until disrupted by Introduction Laramide tectonism in the Late Cretaceous. Source rocks in the Phosphoria began generating oil in southeastern Idaho at The Southwestern Wyoming Province, as defined in the beginning of the Early Cretaceous, but in the Southwestern this assessment report, conforms to the so-called Greater Wyoming Province, oil generation did not commence until Green River Basin (fig. 1). The Greater Green River Basin is Late Cretaceous. Oil began migrating laterally away from the bounded on the north by the Wind River Range and Granite source rocks shortly after maturation, and regional carrier beds Mountains, on the east by the Rawlins uplift, Sierra Madre, such as the Permian Park City Formation and Pennsylvanian and Park Range, on the south by the Axial Basin uplift and Tensleep Sandstone distributed the oil throughout the central Uinta Mountains, and