Outside Publication: Natural Resources Research
Current estimates of discovered viscous and heavy oil in Alaska’s North Slope are 12 billion barrels of oil-in-place and 12–18 billion barrels of oil-in-place, respectively (see Appendix 1 for conversion to SI units). Since the early 1990s to the end of 2010, cumulative viscous oil production has amounted to 150 million barrels, and there has been no commercial production of heavy oil...

USGS Publication: Fact Sheet 2015-3006
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) quantitatively assessed the potential for unconventional (continuous) oil and gas resources within the Jurassic Sargelu Formation of Iraq. Organic-rich shales of the Jurassic Sargelu Formation are one of the main petroleum source rocks for conventional fields in the Arabian Peninsula.

Outside Publication: Fuel
Coal seam degasification improves coal mine safety by reducing the gas content of coal seams and also by generating added value as an energy source. Coal seam reservoir simulation is one of the most effective ways to help with these two main objectives. As in all modeling and simulation studies, how the reservoir is defined and whether observed productions can be predicted are important considerations...

USGS Publication: Digital Data Series 69-JJ
​Since 2000, the USGS has completed assessments of continuous (unconventional) resources in the United States based on geologic studies and analysis of well-production data and has compiled digital maps of the assessment units classified into four categories: shale gas, tight gas, coalbed gas, and shale oil or tight oil (continuous oil).

Outside Publication: Geological Society of America Memoir 212
​Lake deposystems are commonly associated with retroarc mountain belts in the geological record. These deposystems are poorly characterized in modern retroarcs, placing limits on our ability to interpret environmental signals from ancient deposits.

USGS News Release & Publications  
Two new USGS publications that highlight historical hydraulic fracturing trends and data from 1947 to 2010 are now available. This national analysis of data on nearly 1 million hydraulically fractured wells and 1.8 million fracturing treatment records from 1947 through 2010 is used to identify hydraulic fracturing trends in drilling methods and use of proppants (sand or similar material suspended in water or other fluid to keep fissures open), treatment fluids, additives, and water in the United States.

USGS Publication: Open-File Report 2014-1219
Geographic information system (GIS) information may facilitate energy studies, which in turn provide input for energy policy decisions. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has compiled geographic information system (GIS) data representing the known coal mine locations and coal-mining areas of China as of 2001. These data are now available for download, and may be used in a GIS for a...