Occurrences and resources of heavy crudes and tar sands in the United States

Conference · Sat Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1966 · Petr. Ind. Thermal Oil Recovery Conf. Preprint; (United States)

OSTI ID:5989442

Watkins, J W

Recent successes and widespread interest in thermal methods of oil recovery have focused attention on tar sands and other heavy crude-oil reservoirs. Heavy oils are present in more than 2,000 reservoirs in 26 states. It is estimated that the original oil in place in these reservoirs exceeded 100 billion bbl of crude oil with API gravities ranging from 6 to 25. Cumulative production as of Jan. 1, 1964 was a little more than 10 billion bbl. There are 546 tar-sand deposits in 22 states throughout the country. Data on these resources indicate that the recovery bitumen may range from 2.5 to 5.5 billion bbl in surface and near-surface rocks. Reserves estimates are inaccurate; however, it appears that the extent and magnitude of heavy- oil and tar-sands deposits are great enough, and that thermal stimulation technology is capable of producing a significant amount of these reserves.

• Research Organization: US Bureau Mines
• OSTI ID: 5989442
• Report Number(s): CONF-660676-
• Conference Information: Journal Name: Petr. Ind. Thermal Oil Recovery Conf. Preprint; (United States) Journal Volume: RV-31
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

02 PETROLEUM
020100* -- Petroleum-- Reserves-- (-1989)
020300 -- Petroleum-- Drilling & Production
03 NATURAL GAS
030300 -- Natural Gas-- Drilling
Production
& Processing
04 OIL SHALES AND TAR SANDS
040100 -- Oil Shales & Tar Sands-- Reserves & Exploration-- (-1989)
BITUMENS
ENERGY SOURCES
ENGINEERING
ENHANCED RECOVERY
FOSSIL FUELS
FUELS
GEOLOGIC DEPOSITS
GEOLOGIC STRUCTURES
MINERAL RESOURCES
OIL SAND DEPOSITS
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
OTHER ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
PETROLEUM
PETROLEUM DEPOSITS
RECOVERY
RESERVOIR ENGINEERING
RESOURCE ASSESSMENT
RESOURCES
TAR
THERMAL RECOVERY
VISCOSITY