Remote area has no real O&G potential

USGS releases assessment of North Chukchi Basin; straddles Russian, US outer continental shelves, and waters of Arctic Ocean

Kay Cashman

Petroleum News

The U.S. Geological Survey said May 29 that it estimates there are 1.8 billion barrels of oil and natural gas liquids and 119.9 trillion cubic feet of natural gas in undiscovered, technically recoverable conventional accumulations in Cretaceous and Cenozoic strata of the North Chukchi Basin, which covers an area greater than 135,000 square miles and is more than 150 miles northwest of Alaska.

The remote basin lies at the outer continental shelf of the Chukchi and East Siberian seas in the Arctic Ocean, mainly on the Russian side of the maritime boundary. It formed by continental rifting and contains as much as 75,000 feet of strata.

This report is an update to a previously released 2008 assessment. The USGS periodically updates its global energy assessments.

A familiar name led this most recent survey, David Houseknecht, who has led other USGS assessments in or near Alaska. USGS geologist Ken Bird led the 2008 assessment, but Houseknecht was a member of his team.

The majority of the area analyzed is beyond the Chukchi Sea Outer Continental Shelf Planning Area that the U.S. government utilizes to inform its offshore oil and gas leasing program.

The U.S. Chukchi Sea remains withdrawn from oil and gas leasing. Some of the formations lie within the United States extended continental shelf as identified by the U.S. Department of State. This region is remote, ice-covered for much of each year, and far from infrastructure.

No petroleum exploration wells have been drilled in the North Chukchi Basin. The nearest wells lie 20 to 100 miles to the southeast on the U.S. Chukchi Sea shelf and are not productive.

The geological framework of the basin was interpreted from two-dimensional seismic reflection data tied to those wells and correlated throughout the basin. The number and sizes of potential oil and gas accumulations were inferred from seismic amplitude anomalies observed in the seismic reflection data. Such observations commonly are used as reliable indicators of hydrocarbon accumulations in the Alaska North Slope, USGS said.

The USGS does not make economic assessments of oil and gas resources; however, due to the location and distance from existing infrastructure, the agency said it is highly unlikely the resources could be economically recoverable.

Undiscovered resources are those that have been estimated to exist based on geology and other data but have not yet been proven to exist by drilling or other means.

Technically recoverable resources are those that can be produced using today's standard industry practices and technology. This is different from reserves, which are those quantities of oil and gas that have been discovered and are currently profitable to produce.

Conventional resources are those that have collected into discrete (disconnected) accumulations that can be produced using traditional production techniques. These contrast with continuous resources, which are those spread throughout a rock layer and typically require enhanced recovery techniques such as hydraulic fracturing to recover.

Note to readers; Assessment of Undiscovered Oil and Gas Resources of the North Chukchi Basin, Outer Continental Shelf of the Chukchi and East Siberian seas, Arctic Ocean can be found at https://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/2024/3015/fs20243015.pdf.