Correlation between assessments of undiscovered oil and gas resources

There is an inbuilt correlation between estimated quantities of oil and gas produced by probabilistic assessments of undiscovered oil and gas resources. Correlation between assessed quantities of oil and gas occurs at every level, whether prospects, plays, basins, continents, or the world. Providing that the oil and gas are assessed in the same run of the computer program, the correlation can be calculated using the paired values of the undiscovered oil and gas volumes calculated in each of the Monte Carlo simulations. It can be seen in the shape and density of a point plot of these paired values. Alternatively, the correlation can be calculated theoretically using an equation written in terms of the data input to the assessment program. These commonly include distributions for the number of accumulations (N), the success rate (s), the accumulation sizes (V), an oil to gas conversion factor, and a proportion of oil to oil plus gas (P _OOG). The cause of the correlation is investigated and explained using point plots and equations for a variety of input distributions. The shape and density of each plot are determined by the pattern of the numbers of oil and gas accumulations, the sizes of the accumulations, and the proportions of oil to oil plus gas. The correlation is caused by the dispersion or spread of the input distributions. It may be positive or negative, tending toward positive as the dispersions ofN, s, andV increase and the dispersion ofP _OOG decreases. The correlation indicates that there is a relationship between the undiscovered oil and gas resources that may be described by fitting a linear regression to a plot of the paired values of the total oil and gas resources. The relationship should be quoted as part of the assessment and might be used to make a better estimate of the value of the undiscovered resources.     

Oil- and gas-resource assessment in certain South American Basins—An application of ARDS (Ver. 5.0) to complex exploration and discovery histories

The modified Arps-Roberts Discovery Process Modeling System [ARDS (Ver. 4.01)] has recently been upgraded [ARDS (Ver. 5.0)] and applied to a wide variety of field discovery and wildcat drilling data with differing characteristics. ARDS is designed to forecast the number and sizes of undiscovered fields in an exploration play or basin by using historical drilling and discovery data. Fields used as input may be grown or ungrown. Two models for field growth—one offshore and the other onshore—have been implemented (Schuenemeyer and Drew, 1996). Uncertainty attributable to field growth is estimated via simulation. This upgrade of ARDS has been designed to handle situations when the data cannot be partitioned into homogeneous regions, but where estimation of the number of remaining oil and gas fields is still meaningful. In this upgrade of ARDS, many restrictions, which include those on the number of fields and wildcat wells required to forecast the size distribution of the oil and gas fields that remain to be discovered in an exploration play, a basin, or other target area, have been removed. In addition, flexibility has been gained by reforming the criteria for convergence of the model. In all, 32 basins and subbasins in South America were examined, 18 of which had sufficient data to be amenable to forecasting the field-size distribution of undiscovered oil and gas resources directly by using the Petroconsultants Inc. (1993) field discovery and wildcat drilling data. Overall, ARDS (Ver. 5.0) performed well in estimating the field-size distribution of undiscovered oil and gas resources in the 18 basins and subbasins. The aggregate volume of undiscovered petroleum resources was characterized by using histograms of the distribution of resources and the following five statistics: the mean, the 80% trimmed mean, and the 10,50 (median), and 90 quantiles. More than 38 billion barrels of oil equivalent (BOE) in fields that contain more than one million BOE individually were forecast as remaining to be discovered. The largest basin, the Campos (Brazil), is forecast to contain nearly 10 billion BOE undiscovered resources. The East Venezuela Basin (excluding the Furrial Trend) is forecast to contain about 8 billion BOE; the Austral-Magallanes Basin (Argentina and Chile), about 7 billion BOE; and the Napo (Colombia and Ecuador) and the Neuquen (Argentina) Basins, between 3 billion and 4 billion BOE. A subset of these basins that illustrate the increased flexibility of ARDS are discussed.     

Worldwide Estimates of Deep Natural Gas Resources Based on the U.S. Geological Survey World Petroleum Assessment 2000

The U.S. Geological Survey recently assessed undiscovered conventional gas and oil resources in eight regions of the world outside the U.S. The resources assessed were those estimated to have the potential to be added to reserves within the next thirty years. This study is a worldwide analysis of the estimated volumes and distribution of deep (>4.5 km or about 15,000 ft), undiscovered conventional natural gas resources based on this assessment. Two hundred forty-six assessment units in 128 priority geologic provinces, 96 countries, and two jointly held areas were assessed using a probabilistic Total Petroleum System approach. Priority geologic provinces were selected from a ranking of 937 provinces worldwide. The U.S. Geological Survey World Petroleum Assessment Team did not assess undiscovered petroleum resources in the U.S. For this report, mean estimated volumes of deep conventional undiscovered gas resources in the U.S. are taken from estimates of 101 deep plays (out of a total of 550 conventional plays in the U.S.) from the U.S. Geological Survey's 1995 National Assessment of Oil and Gas Resources. A probabilistic method was designed to subdivide gas resources into depth slices using a median-based triangular probability distribution as a model for drilling depth to estimate the percentages of estimated gas resources below various depths. For both the World Petroleum Assessment 2000 and the 1995 National Assessment of Oil and Gas Resources, minimum, median, and maximum depths were assigned to each assessment unit and play; these depths were used in our analysis. Two-hundred seventy-four deep assessment units and plays in 124 petroleum provinces were identified for the U.S. and the world. These assessment units and plays contain a mean undiscovered conventional gas resource of 844 trillion cubic ft (Tcf) occuring at depths below 4.5 km. The deep undiscovered conventional gas resource (844 Tcf) is about 17% of the total world gas resource (4,928 Tcf) based on the provinces assessed and includes a mean estimate of 259 Tcf of U.S. gas from the U.S. 1995 National Assessment. Of the eight regions, the Former Soviet Union (Region 1) contains the largest estimated volume of undiscovered deep gas with a mean resource of343 Tcf.     

Annotated bibliography of methodology for assessment of undiscovered oil and gas resources

An annotated bibliography of methodology of assessment of undiscovered oil and gas resources is presented as a useful reference for those engaged in resource assessment. The articles that are included deal only with quantitative assessment of undiscovered or inferred resources. the articles in this bibliography are classified largely according to the major assessment method that was applied in each situation. Major assessment methods include areal and volumetric yield methods, field size distributions, historical extrapolation, deposit modeling, organic geochemical mass balance methods, and direct expert assessment. Other categories include mathematical tools, reserve growth/confirmation, quantitative characterization of undiscovered resources, and general topics. For the purpose of future updates, we solicit contributions of articles that may have been missed in the preparation of this bibliography.     

U.S. department of the interior U.S. geological survey: Fractal lognormal percentage analysis of the U.S. geological survey’s 1995 national assessment of conventional oil and gas resources

The U.S. Geological Survey periodically makes appraisals of the oil and gas resources of the Nation. In its 1995 National Assessment the onshore areas and adjoining State waters of the Nation were assessed. As part of the 1995 National Assessment, 274 conventional oil plays and 239 conventional nonassociated-gas plays were assessed. The two datasets of estimates studied herein are the following: (1) the mean, undiscovered, technically recoverable oil resources estimated for each of the 274 conventional oil plays, and (2) the mean, undiscovered, technically recoverable gas resources estimated for each of the 239 conventional nonassociatedgas plays. It was found that the two populations of petroleum estimates are both distributed approximately as lognormal distributions. Fractal lognormal percentage theory is developed and applied to the two populations of petroleum estimates. In both cases the theoretical percentages of total resources using the lognormal distribution are extremely close to the empirical percentages from the oil and nonassociated-gas data. For example, 20% of the 274 oil plays account for 73.05% of the total oil resources of the plays if the lognormal distribution is used, or for 75.52% if the data is used; 20% of the 239 nonassociated-gas plays account for 76.32% of the total nonassociated-gas resources of the plays if the lognormal distribution is used, or for 78.87% if the data is used     

Guiding Principles of USGS Methodology for Assessment of Undiscovered Conventional Oil and Gas Resources

During the last 30 years, the methodology for assessment of undiscovered conventional oil and gas resources used by the Geological Survey has undergone considerable change. This evolution has been based on five major principles. First, the U.S. Geological Survey has responsibility for a wide range of U.S. and world assessments and requires a robust methodology suitable for immaturely explored as well as maturely explored areas. Second, the assessments should be based on as comprehensive a set of geological and exploration history data as possible. Third, the perils of methods that solely use statistical methods without geological analysis are recognized. Fourth, the methodology and course of the assessment should be documented as transparently as possible, within the limits imposed by the inevitable use of subjective judgement. Fifth, the multiple uses of the assessments require a continuing effort to provide the documentation in such ways as to increase utility to the many types of users. Undiscovered conventional oil and gas resources are those recoverable volumes in undiscovered, discrete, conventional structural or stratigraphic traps. The USGS 2000 methodology for these resources is based on a framework of assessing numbers and sizes of undiscovered oil and gas accumulations and the associated risks. The input is standardized on a form termed the Seventh Approximation Data Form for Conventional Assessment Units. Volumes of resource are then calculated using a Monte Carlo program named Emc2, but an alternative analytic (non-Monte Carlo) program named ASSESS also can be used. The resource assessment methodology continues to change. Accumulation-size distributions are being examined to determine how sensitive the results are to size-distribution assumptions. The resource assessment output is changing to provide better applicability for economic analysis. The separate methodology for assessing continuous (unconventional) resources also has been evolving. Further studies of the relationship between geologic models of conventional and continuous resources will likely impact the respective resource assessment methodologies.     

Probabilistic methodology for estimation of undiscovered petroleum resources in play analysis of the United States

A geostochastic system called FASPF was developed by the U.S. Geological Survey for their 1989 assessment of undiscovered petroleum resources in the United States. FASPF is a fast appraisal system for petroleum play analysis using a field-size geological model and an analytic probabilistic methodology. The geological model is a particular type of probability model whereby the volumes of oil and gas accumulations are modeled as statistical distributions in the form of probability histograms, and the risk structure is bilevel (play and accumulation) in terms of conditional probability. The probabilistic methodology is an analytic method derived from probability theory rather than Monte Carlo simulation. The resource estimates of crude oil and natural gas are calculated and expressed in terms of probability distributions. The probabilistic methodology developed by the author is explained.The analytic system resulted in a probabilistic methodology for play analysis, subplay analysis, economic analysis, and aggregation analysis. Subplay analysis included the estimation of petroleum resources on non-Federal offshore areas. Economic analysis involved the truncation of the field size with a minimum economic cutoff value. Aggregation analysis was needed to aggregate individual play and subplay estimates of oil and gas, respectively, at the provincial, regional, and national levels.     

Assessment Methodology and Results From the Canadian Gas Potential Committee 2001 Report

Since 1991 volunteers from the Canadian Gas Potential Committee (CGPC) have conducted assessments of undiscovered gas potential in Canada. Reports were published in 1997 and 2001. The 2001 CGPC report assessed all established and some conceptual exploration plays in Canada and incorporated data from about 29,000 discovered gas pools and gas fields. Mainly year-end 1998 data were used in the analysis of 107 established exploration plays. The CGPC assessed gas in place without using economic cut offs. Estimates of nominal marketable gas were made, based on the ratio between gas in place and marketable gas in discovered pools. Only part of the estimated nominal marketable gas actually will be available, primarily because of restrictions on access to exploration and the small size of many accumulations. Most plays were assessed using the Petrimes program where it could be applied. Arps-Roberts assessments were made on plays where too many discovered pools were present to use the Petrimes program. Arps-Roberts assessments were corrected for economic truncation of the discovered pool sample. Several methods for making such corrections were tried and examples of the results are shown and compared with results from Petrimes. In addition to assessments of established plays, 12 conceptual plays, where no discoveries have been made, were assessed using Petrimes subjective methodology. An additional 65 conceptual plays were recognized, discussed, and ranked without making a quantitative assessment. No nominal marketable gas was attributed to conceptual plays because of the high risk of failure in such plays. Nonconventional gas in the form of coalbed methane, gas hydrates, tight gas, and shale gas are discussed, but no nominal marketable gas is attributed to those sources pending successful completion of pilot study projects designed to demonstrate commercially viable production. Conventional gas resources in Canada include 340 Tcf of gas in place in discovered pools and fields and 252 Tcf of undiscovered gas in place. Remaining nominal marketable gas includes 96 Tcf in discovered pools and fields and 138 Tcf of undiscovered nominal marketable gas. The Western Canada Sedimentary Basin holds 61% of the remaining nominal marketable gas. Future discoveries from that area will be mainly in pools smaller than 2.5 Bcf of marketable gas and increasing levels of exploratory drilling will be required to harvest this undiscovered resource. A pragmatic, geologically focussed approach to the assessment of undiscovered gas potential by the CGPC provides a sound basis for future exploration and development planning. Peer reviewed assessment on a play-by-play basis for entire basins provides both detailed play information and the ability to evaluate new exploration results and their impact on overall potential.     

A Framework for Expert Judgment to Assess Oil and Gas Resources

In frontier areas, where well data are sparse, many organizations have used expert judgment to estimate undiscovered resources. In this process, several important issues arise. How should the knowledge be elicited? At what level of aggregation (geologic process model, play, petroleum system, country, etc.) should the assessment be performed? How and at what stage of the assessment process should feedback be given to assessors? Is independent replication of estimates possible? How are issues of dependency treated? When and how should uncertainty be specified? The context for this presentation will be the methodology used in the US Geological Survey's 1998 1002-Arctic National Wildlife Refuge assessment of oil and gas resources.

     

Deep Natural Gas Resources

From a geological perspective, deep natural gas resources generally are defined as occurring in reservoirs below 15,000 feet, whereas ultradeep gas occurs below 25,000 feet. From an operational point of view, deep may be thought of in a relative sense based on the geologic and engineering knowledge of gas (and oil) resources in a particular area. Deep gas occurs in either conventionally trapped or unconventional (continuous-type) basin-center accumulations that are essentially large single fields having spatial dimensions often exceeding those of conventional fields.Exploration for deep conventional and continuous-type basin-center natural gas resources deserves special attention because these resources are widespread and occur in diverse geologic environments. In 1995, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated that 939 TCF of technically recoverable natural gas remained to be discovered or was part of reserve appreciation from known fields in the onshore areas and state waters of the United States. Of this USGS resource, nearly 114 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) of technically recoverable gas remains to be discovered from deep sedimentary basins. Worldwide estimates of deep gas also are high. The U.S. Geological Survey World Petroleum Assessment 2000 Project recently estimated a world undiscovered conventional gas resource outside the U.S. of 844 Tcf below 4.5 km (about 15,000 feet).Less is known about the origins of deep gas than about the origins of gas at shallower depths because fewer wells have been drilled into the deeper portions of many basins. Some of the many factors contributing to the origin and accumulation of deep gas include the initial concentration of organic matter, the thermal stability of methane, the role of minerals, water, and nonhydrocarbon gases in natural gas generation, porosity loss with increasing depth and thermal maturity, the kinetics of deep gas generation, thermal cracking of oil to gas, and source rock potential based on thermal maturity and kerogen type. Recent experimental simulations using laboratory pyrolysis methods have provided much information on the origins of deep gas.Technologic problems are among the greatest challenges to deep drilling. Problems associated with overcoming hostile drilling environments (e.g. high temperatures and pressures, and acid gases such as CO₂ and H₂S) for successful well completion, present the greatest obstacles to drilling, evaluating, and developing deep gas fields. Even though the overall success ratio for deep wells (producing below 15,000 feet) is about 25%, a lack of geological and geophysical information continues to be a major barrier to deep gas exploration.Results of recent finding-cost studies by depth interval for the onshore U.S. indicate that, on average, deep wells cost nearly 10 times more to drill than shallow wells, but well costs and gas recoveries differ widely among different gas plays in different basins.Based on an analysis of natural gas assessments, deep gas holds significant promise for future exploration and development. Both basin-center and conventional gas plays could contain significant deep undiscovered technically recoverable gas resources.     

Estimates of Number of Undiscovered Deposits of Gold,Silver, Copper,Lead, and Zinc in the United States

Estimates of the number of undiscovered deposits offer a unique perspective on the nation's undiscovered mineral resources. As part of the 1998 assessment of undiscovered deposits of gold, silver, copper, lead, and zinc, estimates of the number of deposits were made for 305 of the 447 permissive tracts delineated in 19 assessment regions of the country. By aggregating number of undiscovered deposits by deposit type and by assessment region, a picture of the nation's undiscovered resources has emerged. For the nation as a whole, the mean estimate for the number of undiscovered deposits is 950. There is a 90% chance there are at least 747 undiscovered deposits and a 10% chance there are as many as 1,160 undiscovered deposits. For Alaska, the mean estimate for the number of undiscovered deposits is 281. There is a 90% chance there are at least 168 undiscovered deposits and a 10% chance there are as many as 402 undiscovered deposits. Assuming that the majority of deposits used to create the grade and tonnage models that formed the basis for estimating the number of undiscovered deposits are significant deposits, there remain about as many undiscovered deposits as have already been discovered. Consideration of the number of undiscovered deposits as part of national assessments carried out on a recurring basis serves as a leading indicator of the nation's total mineral resources.     

Long-term implications of new U.S. gas estimates

The US Geological Survey’s 1995 estimates of domestic undiscovered plus undeveloped natural gas nearly tripled quantities estimated in its 1989 Assessment. Much of the increase came from selected unconventional resources assessed using the paradigm of continuous-type accumulations. These include such seemingly unrelated “unconventional” gas occurrences as “tight gas,” coalbed gas, gas in shales, and deep basin-center gas. Though only a small fraction of the assessed 352 trillion cubic feet is now economic, the quantity is nevertheless significant. Moreover, the lowest cost resources are close to major gas markets where competing conventional gas is modest. With continued technological improvements these resources can contribute significantly to future U.S. gas supply, even without subsidies     

Recovery Factors of Oil Resources in China

This paper provides a new method to estimate recovery factors of oil resources. The China National Petroleum Assessment (2003–2007) (CNPA 2007) evaluates in-place oil resources and applies the recovery factor (RF) to estimate recoverable oil resources. The RF of oil resources plays an important role in the CNPA 2007. Based on the geological features, 24 types of oil assessment units are defined, such as the Mesozoic rift unit, the Mesozoic and Cenozoic foreland unit, etc. Through the recovery factor statistics of oil reserves (discovered) in different accumulations, as well as the potential analyses of enhanced petroleum recovery, appropriate RF valuing standards of oil resources (discovered and undiscovered) in different assessment units are developed. Calculation methods of oil resource RFs are established, including the appraisal standards, scoring, and calculation steps of oil resource RFs. Through the case studies, the valuing and appraisal standards of oil resource RFs are verified. Robust appraisal standards allow the RF method to be a valuable tool to effective assessment of China’s recoverable oil resources.     

Geologic risk, economic assessment, and optimal decision making of petroleum plays in the Bohaiwan Basin, northern China

A system of play (trap) assessment based on the analysis of geological characteristics of five different types of petroleum plays in the Bohaiwan Basin, northern China, is proposed. The system makes use of conditional probability, fuzzy logic, and Monte Carlo simulation to assess geologic risk for estimating the undiscovered petroleum resources in a region. Combining the estimates of undiscovered resources with the subsequent economic evaluation of discovered resources by using techniques of optimization, the expected monetary value can be estimated to determine the overall benefits of an investment. A software program has been developed to carry out the calculations.     

Quality of the Log-Geometric Distribution Extrapolation for Smaller Undiscovered Oil and Gas Pool Size

The U.S. Geological Survey procedure for the estimation of the general form of the parent distribution requires that the parameters of the log-geometric distribution be calculated and analyzed for the sensitivity of these parameters to different conditions. In this study, we derive the shape factor of a log-geometric distribution from the ratio of frequencies between adjacent bins. The shape factor has a log straight-line relationship with the ratio of frequencies. Additionally, the calculation equations of a ratio of the mean size to the lower size-class boundary are deduced. For a specific log-geometric distribution, we find that the ratio of the mean size to the lower size-class boundary is the same. We apply our analysis to simulations based on oil and gas pool distributions from four petroleum systems of Alberta, Canada and four generated distributions. Each petroleum system in Alberta has a different shape factor. Generally, the shape factors in the four petroleum systems stabilize with the increase of discovered pool numbers. For a log-geometric distribution, the shape factor becomes stable when discovered pool numbers exceed 50 and the shape factor is influenced by the exploration efficiency when the exploration efficiency is less than 1. The simulation results show that calculated shape factors increase with those of the parent distributions, and undiscovered oil and gas resources estimated through the log-geometric distribution extrapolation are smaller than the actual values.     

The study of the undiscovered mineral resources of the Tongass National Forest and adjacent lands,Southeastern Alaska

The quantitative probabilistic assessment of the undiscovered mineral resources of the 17.1-million-acre Tongass National Forest (the largest in the United States) and its adjacent lands is a nonaggregated, mineral-resource-tract-oriented assessment designed for land-planning purposes. As such, it includes the renewed use of gross-in-place values (GIPV's) in dollars of the estimated amounts of metal contained in the undiscovered resources as a measure for land-use planning.Southeastern Alaska is geologically complex and contains a wide variety of known mineral deposits, some of which have produced important amounts of metals during the past 100 years. Regional geological, economic geological, geochemical, geophysical, and mineral exploration history information for the region was integrated to define 124 tracts likely to contain undiscovered mineral resources. Some tracts were judged to contain more than one type of mineral deposit. Each type of deposit may contain one or more metallic elements of economic interest. For tracts where information was sufficient, the minimum number of as-yet-undiscovered deposits of each type was estimated at probability levels of 0.95, 0.90, 0.50, 0.10, and 0.05.The undiscovered mineral resources of the individual tracts were estimated using the U.S. Geological Survey's MARK3 mineral-resource endowment simulator; those estimates were used to calculate GIPV's for the individual tracts. Those GIPV's were aggregated to estimate the value of the undiscovered mineral resources of southeastern Alaska. The aggregated GIPV of the estimates is $40.9 billion.Analysis of this study indicates that (1) there is only a crude positive correlation between the size of individual tracts and their mean GIPV's: and (2) the number of mineral-deposit types in a tract does not dominate the GIPV's of the tracts, but the inferred presence of synorogenic-synvolcanic nickel-copper, porphyry copper skarn-related, iron skarn, and porphyry copper-molybdenum deposits does. The influence of this study on the U.S. Forest Service planning process is yet to be determined.     

Statewide Estimates of Undiscovered Deposits of Gold,Silver, Copper,Lead, and Zinc

Estimates of the number of undiscovered deposits on a statewide basis offer a different perspective on the nation's undiscovered resources of gold, silver, copper, lead, and zinc. Mean estimates of the number of undiscovered deposits statewide were extracted from the estimates of undiscovered deposits nationwide. More than 50 undiscovered deposits are estimated to occur in Alaska, Arizona, Nevada, and Wisconsin. Estimating the number of undiscovered deposits statewide serves as a measure of a state's total remaining mineral resources in known conventional deposit types.     

Predicting the Peak in World Oil Production

The US Department of Energy's Energy Information Administration (EIA) recently predicted that world oil production could continue to increase for more than three decades, based on the recent US Geological Survey (USGS) evaluation of world oil resources and a simple, transparent model. However, it can be shown that this model is not consistent with actual oil production records in many different regions, particularly that of the US, from which it was derived. A more careful application of the EIA model, using the same resource estimates, indicates that at best non-OPEC oil production can increase for less than two decades, and should begin to decline at the latest sometime between 2015 and 2020. OPEC at this point will completely control the world oil market and will need to meet increased demand as well as compensate for declining production of non-OPEC producers. OPEC could control the market even sooner than this, given its larger share of proven oil reserves, probable difficulties in transforming non-OPEC undiscovered reserves into proven reserves, and the converging interests of all oil producers as reserves are depleted. This has significant implications for the world economy and for US national security.     

Comparison of Methods Used to Estimate Conventional Undiscovered Petroleum Resources: World Examples

Various methods for assessing undiscovered oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquid resources were compared in support of the USGS World Petroleum Assessment 2000. Discovery process, linear fractal, parabolic fractal, engineering estimates, PETRIMES, Delphi, and the USGS 2000 methods were compared. Three comparisons of these methods were made in: (1) the Neuquen Basin province, Argentina (different assessors, same input data); (2) provinces in North Africa, Oman, and Yemen (same assessors, different methods); and (3) the Arabian Peninsula, Arabian (Persian) Gulf, and North Sea (different assessors, different methods). A fourth comparison (same assessors, same assessment methods but different geologic models), between results from structural and stratigraphic assessment units in the North Sea used only the USGS 2000 method, and hence compared the type of assessment unit rather than the method. In comparing methods, differences arise from inherent differences in assumptions regarding: (1) the underlying distribution of the parent field population (all fields, discovered and undiscovered), (2) the population of fields being estimated; that is, the entire parent distribution or the undiscovered resource distribution, (3) inclusion or exclusion of large outlier fields; (4) inclusion or exclusion of field (reserve) growth, (5) deterministic or probabilistic models, (6) data requirements, and (7) scale and time frame of the assessment. Discovery process, Delphi subjective consensus, and the USGS 2000 method yield comparable results because similar procedures are employed. In mature areas such as the Neuquen Basin province in Argentina, the linear and parabolic fractal and engineering methods were conservative compared to the other five methods and relative to new reserve additions there since 1995. The PETRIMES method gave the most optimistic estimates in the Neuquen Basin. In less mature areas, the linear fractal method yielded larger estimates relative to other methods. A geologically based model, such as one using the total petroleum system approach, is preferred in that it combines the elements of petroleum source, reservoir, trap and seal with the tectono-stratigraphic history of basin evolution with petroleum resource potential. Care must be taken to demonstrate that homogeneous populations in terms of geology, geologic risk, exploration, and discovery processes are used in the assessment process. The USGS 2000 method (7th Approximation Model, EMC computational program) is robust; that is, it can be used in both mature and immature areas, and provides comparable results when using different geologic models (e.g. stratigraphic or structural) with differing amounts of subdivisions, assessment units, within the total petroleum system.     

中国与中亚地区油气资源合作开发模式与前景分析

国际合作是全球化时代的重要特征,国际能源合作是国际合作的重要组成部分。本文以中国与中亚地区的油气资源合作开发为载体,研究双方在油气资源合作开发方面的基础、现状、模式及前景,认为双方存在着供需互补的合作基础;将已有合作归结为油气资源开发的合作与修建油气运输管线的合作两类,按国别主要分为哈萨克斯坦、土库曼斯坦和乌兹别克斯坦三国;总结了双方在合作中存在的模式,主要包括产量分成模式、联合经营模式、技术服务模式等三种;最后,以双方互补的资源格局、良好的政治环境、毗邻的地理位置及其他领域的合作为依据,展望了双方在油气资源开发领域合作的广阔前景。