Petroleum Systems and Geologic Assessment of Oil and Gas in the Uinta-Piceance Province, Utah and Colorado

The purpose of the U.S. Geological Survey?s (USGS) National Oil and Gas
Assessment is to develop geology-based hypotheses regarding the potential for
additions to oil and gas reserves in priority areas of the United States,
focusing on the distribution, quantity, and availability of oil and natural gas
resources. The USGS has recently completed an assessment of the undiscovered
oil and gas potential of the Uinta-Piceance Province of northeastern Utah and
northwestern Colorado (USGS Province 5020). The Uinta-Piceance Province is a
priority province for the National Assessment because of its potential for
significant natural gas resources.

The assessment of this province is based on geologic principles and uses the
total petroleum system concept. The geologic elements of a total petroleum
system include hydrocarbon source rocks (source rock maturation, hydrocarbon
generation and migration), reservoir rocks (sequence stratigraphy,
petrophysical properties), and hydrocarbon traps (trap formation and timing).
In the Uinta-Piceance Province, the USGS used this geologic framework to define
five total petroleum systems and 20 assessment units within the total petroleum
systems, and quantitatively estimated the undiscovered oil and gas resources
within each assessment unit.

[Summary provided by the USGS.]