Reserve Growth and Future US Oil Supplies: Final Report.

摘要

Additional crude oil from reserve growth -- the more intensive development of already discovered fields -- represents a major potential source for future oil supplies. In spite of the massive size of its potential, estimated at 35 billion for Texas alone, this source of future US oil supplies has remained largely undefined. The first state-wide geologically based estimate of reserve growth has been by the Bureau of Economic Geology (BEG), University of Texas at Austin. The BEG study used a database of 450 large Texas reservoirs, grouped into 48 geologically similar plays, and a geological model of reservoir heterogeneity for estimating additional ''target oil'' from strategic infill drilling and development. The purpose of our task was to review the BEG findings, to establish the nature and technical basis for their methodology, and to determine whether this approach could be applicable and contribute to the national assessment of the replacement cost of domestic crude oil reserves being sponsored by the US Department of Energy/Fossil Energy. 5 figs., 9 tabs.