Publication Date:
2005-08-01
Description:
The geology and reservoir-engineering data were integrated in the 2002 U.S. Geological Survey assessment of the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska (NPRA). Whereas geology defined the analog pools and fields and provided the basic information on sizes and numbers of hypothesized petroleum accumulations, reservoir engineering helped develop necessary equations and correlations, which allowed the determination of reservoir parameters for better quantification of in-place petroleum volumes and recoverable reserves. Seismic- and sequence-stratigraphic study of the NPRA resulted in identification of 24 plays. Depth ranges in these 24 plays, however, were typically greater than depth ranges of analog plays for which there were available data, necessitating the need for establishing correlations. The basic parameters required were pressure, temperature, oil and gas formation volume factors, liquid/gas ratios for the associated and nonassociated gas, and recovery factors. Finally, the results of U.S. Geological Survey deposit simulation were used in carrying out an economic evaluation, which has been separately published. Mahendra Verma specializes in reservoir engineering and has more than 26 years of worldwide oil industry experience. Currently, he is a research petroleum engineer with the U.S. Geological Survey, providing engineering support to various geological assessments of fields and provinces in the United States, Canada, North Sea, Russia, and the Middle East. He holds petroleum engineering degrees from the Indian School of Mines, India (B.S. degree), the Imperial College of Science and Technology, London (Diploma of Imperial College), and Birmingham University, United Kingdom (Ph.D.).Kenneth Bird specializes in the petroleum geology of northern Alaska, where his experience spans more than 40 years. Currently, he is the coleader of the U.S. Geological Survey Alaska Petroleum Studies Project. With interests primarily in stratigraphy and sedimentology, he has been extensively involved in petroleum resource assessments. He holds geology degrees from Oregon State University (B.S. degree) and the University of Wisconsin (M.S. degree and Ph.D.).
Print ISSN:
0149-1423
Electronic ISSN:
1943-2674
Topics:
Geosciences
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