Contribution of giant fields; Disappearing search for elephants in the U. S
Oil producing regions have their elephants. These are the giant fields, which, in the U.S., are those that originally contained at least 100 million bbl of recoverable oil. Like top herbivores or carnivores, these giants are relatively scarce, but they also are indicative of the health of a region, an oil producing region. This paper reports that it is difficult to overemphasize the importance of giant oil fields. According to the 1991 edition of the International Petroleum Encyclopedia, of the more than 38,880 domestic oil fields that have been discovered, only 231 are giants (0.6%). Yet, these few fields have produced 53% of domestic oil and still contain 63% of domestic reserves. Taken as a group, the 231 known domestic giant oil fields underlay about 2,310 sq miles (0.06% of U.S. land) and contain the energy equivalent of over 10 billion trees used for firewood or 60 trillion many-days of work.
- OSTI ID:
- 5438460
- Journal Information:
- Oil and Gas Journal; (United States), Vol. 90:17; ISSN 0030-1388
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
29 ENERGY PLANNING
POLICY AND ECONOMY
OIL FIELDS
RESOURCE ASSESSMENT
USA
RESOURCE POTENTIAL
DEVELOPED COUNTRIES
GEOLOGIC DEPOSITS
MINERAL RESOURCES
NORTH AMERICA
PETROLEUM DEPOSITS
RESOURCES
020200* - Petroleum- Reserves
Geology
& Exploration
294002 - Energy Planning & Policy- Petroleum