ABSTRACT: Petroleum Potential in the Northern Part of the Arctic National Wildlife Regufe of Alaska: Application of Dynamical Basin Analysis

LERCHE, IAN, and YU ZHIHUEI,* University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC

An integrated basin analysis study was conducted (1-D and 2-D) in the northern part of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), northeastern Alaska, using one- and two-dimensional quantitative dynamic models (1-D and 2-D). Exploratory well data have been used in the reconstructions of: (1) geohistory, including basement subsidence, sediment deposition, change of porosity and compaction, permeability, fluid pressure, and fluid flow with time and depth; (2) thermal history, including heat flux evolution with time, temperature change with time and depth, and thermal maturation history; and (3) hydrocarbon generation history, including the change in the amount of hydrocarbons generated with time and depth, and determination of the time and depth of peak hydrocarbon generation. 1-D and -D basin modeling codes were used with selected wells, and also with an 18 km section, west of ANWR, with five well controls. It is concluded that: (1) the main source rock west of ANWR area matured first about 40-30 Ma ago in the south and gradually to the north about 10-8 Ma ago on the coastal plain; (2) the modeled erosion thickness at Beli Unit-1 location, northeastern Brooks Range, was 1500-3000 m, and was at least 3000 m at Canning River Unit B-1; (3) an overpressure zone within the Hue shale and the lower part of the Canning formation caused by rapid Tertiary deposition has retained porosity, increased the temperature, and speeded hydrocarbon generation in the lower part of the coastal plain area; and (4) the general potential for petroleum exploration in ANWR is great. However, t e truncation of Ellesmerian sequences and lowered maturity because of the erosion event have reduced the prospectivity of specific areas within the ANWR.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #91012©1992 AAPG Annual Meeting, Calgary, Alberta, Canada, June 22-25, 1992 (2009)