There are 1 million barrels of oil in Armenia – U.S. Geological Survey

There are 1 million barrels of oil in Armenia – U.S. Geological Survey –

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) estimated mean volumes of 1 million barrels of oil and 6 billion cubic feet (approx. 169 million cubic meters) of natural gas in Armenia. The aforesaid is noted in the USGS Assessment of Undiscovered, Technically Recoverable Oil and Gas Resources of Armenia, 2014.

The USGS evaluated the potential for undiscovered conventional and unconventional oil and natural gas resources in Armenia. The assessment was based on the postulated presence and viability of petroleum-system elements, including petroleum source rocks (quality, source-rock maturation, generation, and migration); reservoir rocks (depositional environments, stratigraphy, and petrophysical properties); traps (type and formation); and timing considerations.

Using this geologic framework, the USGS defined two hypotheticaltotal petroleum systems (TPSs)—the Paleozoic Composite TPS and the Cenozoic Composite TPS. A total of four assessment units (AUs) consisting of one conventional and one unconventional (shale gas and coalbed gas) in each TPS were evaluated. Only the Paleogene-Sourced Conventional Reservoirs AU was quantitatively assessed for potential conventional oil and gas resources because it had a sufficient probability for petroleum resources, a 10 percent chance or larger. This assessed AU focused on the potential for technically recoverable resources in new field discoveries; economic resources were not evaluated. The Paleozoic-Sourced Conventional Reservoirs AU, the Permian Shale Gas AU, and the Cenozoic Coalbed Gas AU were not quantitatively assessed because probability for petroleum resources was low.

Four AUs were delineated entirely within the country of Armenia. The postulated petroleum-system elements of the Paleozoic-Sourced Conventional Reservoirs AU, the Permian Shale Gas AU, and the Cenozoic Coalbed Gas AU are uncertain, resulting in low geologic probabilities; thus they were not quantitatively assessed. The petroleum-system elements of the Paleogene-Sourced Conventional Reservoirs AU, although uncertain and risked, were quantitatively assessed because they resulted in a geologic AU probability above the threshold of 10 percent (that is, the probability of at least one conventional oil or gas accumulation of 5 million barrels of oil equivalent or greater based on postulated petroleum-system elements).

USGS estimated fully risked mean volumes of about 1 million barrels of oil, about 6 billion cubic feet of natural gas, and less than 1 million barrels of natural gas liquids. The assessment of undiscovered petroleum resources at the 95th and 50th fractiles is zero and reflects the low geologic AU probability of 16 percent and high geologic uncertainty on petroleum-system elements.