UTAH OIL SHALE DATABASE by Michael D. Vanden Berg1, John R. Dyni2, and David E. Tabet1 1Utah Geological Survey, Salt Lake City, Utah 2U.S. Geological Survey, Denver, Colorado OPEN-FILE REPORT 469 UTAH GEOLOGICAL SURVEY a division of Utah Department of Natural Resources 2006 STATE OF UTAH Jon Huntsman, Jr., Governor DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES Michael Styler, Executive Director UTAH GEOLOGICAL SURVEY Richard G. Allis, Director PUBLICATIONS contact Natural Resources Map/Bookstore 1594 W. North Temple telephone: 801-537-3320 toll-free: 1-888-UTAH MAP website: http://mapstore.utah.gov email: [email protected] THE UTAH GEOLOGICAL SURVEY contact 1594 W. North Temple, Suite 3110 Salt Lake City, UT 84116 telephone: 801-537-3300 fax: 801-537-3400 web: http://geology.utah.gov Federal Disclaimer This report was prepared as an account of work in cooperation with an agency of the United States Government. 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Table of Contents Abstract . .1 Introduction . .1 Geologic Setting and Resource Overview . .1 Folders and Files Included with Report . .3 Utah Oil Shale Well Information . .3 Oil Shale Map of Utah . .4 Fischer Assays . .4 Geophysical Logs . .5 Lithologic Logs . .5 Miscellaneous PDF Files . .5 Tops Picked by USGS . .5 Quintana - Tops and Shale Oil Yields . .5 Depths Picked by Johnson and Roberts (2003) . .6 Utah Oil Shale Bibliography . .6 References . .7 UTAH OIL SHALE DATABASE by Michael D. Vanden Berg1, John R. Dyni2, and David E. Tabet1 Abstract which should be an invaluable and useful resource as new oil shale research projects are developed. The Utah oil shale database contains a large assortment of information on boreholes that were drilled in the Eocene Geologic Setting and Resource Overview Green River Formation oil shale deposits in the Uinta Basin of eastern Utah. Available files include: Fischer assays made The largest known oil shale deposits in the world are in from drill cores and cuttings, scanned geophysical logs, the Eocene Green River Formation, which covers portions of detailed location information, lithologic descriptions, forma- Utah, Colorado, and Wyoming (figure 1). Lacustrine sedi- tion top information, and overview resource map. This data- ments of the Green River Formation were deposited in two base was constructed to preserve historical oil shale data and large lakes that occupied 25,000 square miles in several sed- present it in a useable electronic fashion for the business and imentary basins including the Piceance, Uinta, Green River, scientific communities. Fischer assay data for 581 unique and Washakie. Fluctuations in the amount of stream inflow boreholes are available in separate and combined MS caused large expansions and contractions of the lakes, as evi- Excel™ and Text file spreadsheets for easy reference and denced by widespread intertonguing of marly lacustrine stra- data manipulation. Scanned geophysical logs are included ta with beds of land-derived sandstone and siltstone. During for 173 different boreholes, along with an inventory of paper arid times, the lakes contracted in size and the lake waters logs for an additional 290 wells available in the Utah Geo- became increasingly saline and alkaline (Dyni, 2003). The logical Survey's library. Spotty to complete formation top warm alkaline waters provided excellent conditions for the information for key beds in the Green River Formation is abundant growth of cyanobacteria (blue-green algae), which included for over 1000 different wells, while detailed litho- is thought to be the major precursor of the organic matter in logic descriptions are available for 168 wells. Also included the oil shale (Dyni, 2003). The organic matter preserved in with this database is an extensive oil shale bibliography for the shale is called kerogen, which when heated can produce resources in the state of Utah, as well as information on who crude oil and natural gas. Figure 2 shows a generalized retains oil shale core and cutting samples. stratigraphic section of the Parachute Creek Member of the Upper Green River Formation in the Uinta Basin, Utah. The section with the richest oil shale is the Mahogany Zone, Introduction which can exceed 40 gallons of oil per ton of shale and is often over 100 feet thick. Other oil shale rich zones include In 1967, the U.S. Department of Interior started an the Big Three, the Stillwater, the Four Senators, the R-6, R- aggressive program to investigate the commercialization of 5, R-4, R-3, and the R-2. Green River Formation oil shale deposits. The dramatic Estimates of the in-ground oil resource within the Green increase in petroleum prices resulting from the Organization River Formation range from 1.5 trillion (Smith, 1980; Dyni, of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) oil embargo 2003) to 1.8 trillion barrels (Culburtson and Pitman, 1973; of 1973 triggered a second resurgence of oil shale research Federal Energy Administration, 1974). The Utah portion of during the 1970s and early 1980s. When oil prices plummet- this resource varies from 165 billion (Smith, 1980) to 321 ed in the mid-1980s, so did research associated with oil billion barrels (Cashion, 1964). Colorado and Wyoming are shale. With crude oil prices again rising to new heights, and thought to contain 1.0 trillion and 300 billion barrels, respec- as conventional crude oil supplies continue to diminish, there tively (Smith, 1980; Pitman and others, 1989; Culbertson and has once again been renewed interest in unconventional fuel others, 1980; Trudell and others, 1973). These in-place sources such as oil shale. resource estimates are based on oil shale present at a grade of This information database was put together to archive greater than 15 gallons per ton. As a comparison, the total and preserve data from exploration and research conducted U.S. conventional crude oil proved reserves are estimated at within the state of Utah. Since personal computers were not 21.4 billion barrels, Saudi Arabia's reserves at 266.8 billion widely available until the mid-1980s, older data was mainly barrels, and the world's proved reserves at 1.3 trillion barrels archived on paper or mainframe computer tapes. With the (Energy Information Administration, 2006). Estimated cooperation of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and the recoverable reserves of crude oil from oil shale deposits in U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM), the Utah Geolog- Utah are presumably much less, but specific numbers are un- ical Survey (UGS) has gathered and organized hundreds of known as proven commercial shale oil recovery technology important oil shale-related documents, reports, and logs, is currently not available. 1 Utah Geological Survey, Salt Lake City, Utah 2 U.S. Geological Survey, Denver, Colorado Figure 1. Oil shale resource areas of Utah, Colorado, and Wyoming. Adapted from Bartis and others, 2005 and Bunger and others, 2004. Folders and Files Included with Report • Utah Oil Shale Well Information This file lists 691 different boreholes that are associated with oil shale deposits in Utah. Each UINTA borehole is designated with a 3-digit number preced- FORMATION ed by “U” for Utah; this numbering scheme was developed by the USGS in earlier work on oil shale and is carried forward in this database. This file contains detailed well location information, year well was drilled, total depth of well, surface eleva- tion, interval and location of available cores and cut- Porcupine Tuff tings, available Fischer assays, interval of available lithologic logs, and interval and type of available geophysical logs. Text in red indicates unverified data. R-8 Big Three This file is organized as follows: Stillwater Four Senators Column A