U..S. Geological Survey Circum-Arctic Resource Appraisal The Arctic contains the world’s largest known
petroleum province (West Siberian Basin) and several other world-class petroliferous basins such as Timan-Pechora,
Northern Alaska, and the Norwegian Sea. Other high northern latitude basins also have a significant potential for future
additions to oil and gas reserves. However, because of the technological challenges of exploration and development,
the Arctic remains largely unexplored with respect to petroleum, and extreme geologic uncertainty characterizes the
entire region. In order to quantify the uncertainty surrounding future additions to reserves, the U.S. Geological Survey
is conducting a Circum-Arctic Resource Appraisal (CARA). The CARA is a consistent, comprehensive, rigorous
assessment of conventional oil and gas resources in all sedimentary basins of the Arctic.
Because of the sparse data available from most Arctic basins, the standard tools of resource assessment-discovery history analysis, prospect counting, and deposit simulation--are not generally applicable. Instead,
the CARA relies primarily upon geological analysis and analog modeling. The Northeast Greenland Shelf
has been selected as a prototype for the CARA because it exhibits many typical characteristics of Arctic
sedimentary provinces, including the constant presence of sea ice. At the same time, its geological
resemblance to western Norway and the North Sea permits the possibility that a world class petroleum
province awaits discovery.
Using a newly compiled map of Arctic sedimentary successions, over the next two years the USGS, in
collaboration with several international organizations, will systematically evaluate the petroleum potential of
the Circum-Arctic basins.
Brenda S Pierce
Name:
Brenda S Pierce
Affiliation:
United States Geological Survey
Department: Energy Resources Program
Title:
Program Coordinator
E-Mail:
bpierce@usgs.gov
Phone:
703648 6470
Fax:
703648 6470
Address:
U.S. Geological Survey
12201 Sunrise Valley Drive
Reston, Virginia
United States of America
20192