Heavy oil and natural bitumen resources are quantified across global geological basins. The dataset reports 3,396 billion barrels of heavy oil and 5,505 billion barrels of natural bitumen originally in place, distributed across 192 and 89 basins respectively. This summary was provided by the USGS.
Use Cases
- Analyze basin type productivity by correlating Klemme basin classification with reported volumes of heavy oil and natural bitumen.
- Model global resource distribution by mapping the 192 basins containing heavy oil and the 89 basins with natural bitumen.
- Assess prospective resources by comparing the 30 billion barrels of prospective heavy oil and 993 billion barrels of prospective natural bitumen to total original oil in place.
- Study geological controls on resource formation by examining data on basin types, such as continental multicyclic basins, which contain 47% of natural bitumen.
Strengths
- Quantifies total global resources with specific figures: 3,396 billion barrels of heavy oil and 5,505 billion barrels of natural bitumen originally in place.
- Provides basin-level distribution counts: resources are located in 192 basins for heavy oil and 89 basins for natural bitumen.
- Includes breakdown of prospective additional resources: 30 billion barrels for heavy oil and 993 billion barrels for natural bitumen.
Limitations
- Specific column names, row counts, and granular data structure are unknown from the description.
- Temporal coverage and update recency are not specified, which may affect the data's current relevance.
- The dataset appears to be a high-level summary, likely lacking detailed, record-level observations for each basin.
Provenance
- Source
- USGS (United States Geological Survey) summary, hosted via NASA Earthdata and CEOS_EXTRA.
- Collection Method
- Compilation and analysis of geological survey data on global petroleum resources.
- Geography
- Global coverage of geological basins.