Oil and gas resource potential in the deep-water Canada Basin, Arctic Ocean

Abstract

The Canada Basin is a deep-water basin adjacent to the Arctic continental shelves of northwest Canada and northern Alaska. Perennial ice cover in the Arctic Ocean has historically prevented detailed geologic study of the basin. Recent seismic surveys (2007 to 2011) provide substantial new information on crustal architecture and sediment fill of the basin. These geophysical data provide a framework for a regional study of basin petroleum geology and resource potential. This report presents the first assessment of oil and gas potential in the Canada Basin. Conventional petroleum resources in Canada Basin were evaluated with a volumetric play-based assessment method and an independent basin-scale global analogue method. The volumetric play assessment included quantitative analyses of four petroleum plays in Cenozoic strata. Mean estimates of total recoverable resource potential in Canada Basin are 779 million m3 (4.9 billion barrels) oil, 659 billion m3 (23 Tcf) free gas, and 308 billion m3 (10.8 Tcf) solution gas. The total recoverable energy resource potential (oil and gas combined) is estimated at 1683 million m3 (10.5 billion barrels) oil equivalent. The independent assessment based on the global analogue methodology provides mean estimates of total recoverable potential of 11 billion barrels oil equivalent, similar to the volumetric play estimates. Natural gas hydrates may be a significant unconventional petroleum resource in Canada Basin, but an assessment of recoverable gas volumes was not possible with available data. This assessment study provides important new insights into the natural resource endowment of the Arctic Canada Basin, a region with currently unresolved international jurisdiction issues.