--> ABSTRACT: Potential Pre-Tertiary Hydrocarbon Accumulations Beneath NOSR No. 2, by Douglas W. Edsall and Linda Fivas; #91022 (1989)

Datapages, Inc.Print this page

Potential Pre-Tertiary Hydrocarbon Accumulations Beneath NOSR No. 2

Douglas W. Edsall, Linda Fivas

NOSR No. 2 lies on the south flank of the Uinta basin in northeastern Utah. Seven of ten producing geologic horizons present within a 30-mi radius are believed to underlie the Reserve. Three different seismic surveys, completed in 1967, 1975, and 1981, provide 66.25 mi of data. Structures identified by Baldwin were called the Hill Creek anticline and Tabyago dome. The 1975 data proved closure on the Tabyago dome. TRW's 1981 interpretation of all seismic data refers to the Dog Nose anticline instead of the Hill Creek anticline. Their data also suggest a broader anticlinal structure west of Tabyago dome, although neither was named. Recent reevaluation of all geophysical data proposes these structures be referred to as the Pine Canyon anticline and Big Canyon dome, respectiv ly.

While no deep exploratory wells presently exist within NOSR No. 2, reservoirs within the Wasatch and Douglas Creek sands, Mesaverde sands, fractured Mancos shales, Dakota-Lakota sands, Morrison Formation, Shinarump sands, and Weber sands are producing adjacent to the Reserve. These same units are present by extrapolation beneath NOSR No. 2 and appear to thin against the flanks of the existing anticlinal and domal structures.

Exploratory wells should be drilled to (1) sample the existing stratigraphic section in detail, (2) provide correlation with wells outside the Reserve, and (3) determine the existence of traps and the oil and gas potential of the various horizons present.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #91022©1989 AAPG Annual Convention, April 23-26, 1989, San Antonio, Texas.