USGS Estimates 6.9 Trillion Cubic Feet of Gas in the Alum Shale of Denmark plus 1 more

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Title: USGS Newsroom

USGS Estimates 6.9 Trillion Cubic Feet of Gas in the Alum Shale of Denmark plus 1 more

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USGS Estimates 6.9 Trillion Cubic Feet of Gas in the Alum Shale of Denmark

Posted: 03 Dec 2013 06:31 AM PST

The Alum Shale in Denmark contains an estimated mean of 6.9 trillion cubic feet of undiscovered, technically recoverable natural gas, according to a new report by the U.S. Geological Survey. This estimate comes from the first-ever USGS assessment of shale gas resources in Denmark.

The geological foundation that underpins the assessment was facilitated by data provided by the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland. USGS released the assessment to the GSDG in a meeting earlier this morning.

"This is a potential resource for Denmark, although there is no current production there," said USGS Acting Director Suzette Kimball. "The complicated geology in Denmark and the difficulty involved in assessing it really demonstrates how important it is to have a robust geologic model underpinning all of our assessments."

The Alum Shale is part of the Baltic Basin and is made up of two assessment units, the onshore portion and the offshore portion. The offshore area was estimated to contain a mean of 4.4 trillion cubic feet of gas and the onshore area was estimated to contain 2.5 trillion cubic feet of gas.  

Using its geology-based methodology, the USGS team estimated recoverable gas resources to range from 0 to 13.3 trillion cubic feet of natural gas in the Alum Shale.  The wide range in the estimate reflects the geological uncertainty inherent in this as-yet largely untested resource.   A complicated geological history of burial, uplift, and erosion may have led to the loss of the natural gas over time, which contributes to the large uncertainty. 

In most areas of Denmark, the burial history of the Alum Shale resulted in temperatures consistent with the formation of oil; however, subsequent additional heating transformed the oil into natural gas.  Thus shale oil is not expected from the Alum Shale. 

Areas of the Alum Shale with potential for gas production are found beneath Jutland and the Island of Zealand, including the City of Copenhagen, and beneath parts of the North Sea, the Kattegat and the Baltic Sea near Bornholm.

This assessment is part of the USGS World Petroleum Project, in which the USGS is assessing conventional and unconventional formations to determine undiscovered, technically recoverable resource potential. Previously published USGS assessments of unconventional resources have included areas in Poland, India, China, and several countries in South America.

Continuous oil and gas, also sometimes referred to as unconventional, remains in or near the original source rock, and, instead of escaping the source rock and collecting in distinct accumulations like conventional oil and gas, is dispersed unevenly over large geographic areas.

Technically recoverable oil resources are those producible using currently available technology and industry practices. USGS is the only provider of publicly available estimates of undiscovered technically recoverable oil and gas resources of the world. 

To learn more about this or other geologic assessments, please visit the USGS Energy Resources Program website. Stay up to date with USGS energy science by subscribing to our newsletter or by following us on Twitter.

Landsat Users Confirm Its Unique Value

Posted: 02 Dec 2013 08:43 AM PST

Since 1972, the Landsat program has allowed scientists and analysts to observe the world beyond the power of human sight, monitor changes to the land, and detect critical trends in the conditions of natural resources. 

To learn more about who uses Landsat imagery and the value these users see in Landsat imagery, the U.S. Geological Survey analyzed responses to a survey of more than 40,000 individuals who accessed free Landsat images from the archive at the USGS Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center in Sioux Falls, S.D. Over 11,000 users responded to the survey. 

Recently published in a USGS report, the survey findings demonstrate that a very wide range of customers use Landsat — from educators to Earth scientists, foresters to urban planners, agricultural managers and water users, and many more. These diverse users were surveyed about their specific utilization of Landsat imagery, as well as the impacts of doing without Landsat imagery and its value to each group.

"The value of Landsat's unique 40-year archive of Earth imagery is incalculable," said Anne Castle, Department of the Interior Assistant Secretary for Water and Science, who welcomed publication of the survey. "But with this study, we can begin to quantify the benefits of Landsat to the national economy and to its many users."

Respondents used Landsat imagery in 38 different primary applications, ranging from environmental sciences to agriculture to planning, administration of natural resources, and humanitarian aid. Three-quarters of respondents said the imagery is somewhat or very important to their work and stated that they were moderately or very dependent on Landsat imagery to do their jobs. Almost two-thirds of users reported that they would have to discontinue half of their work, on average, if new and archived Landsat imagery were unavailable.

The value of Landsat imagery was quantified through a contingent valuation method that estimates the aggregated annual economic benefits derived from the imagery. Based on the survey results, economists estimated the benefits from Landsat imagery distributed directly by the USGS in 2011 to be just over $1.79 billion for U.S. users and almost $400 million for international users, resulting in a total annual economic benefit of $2.19 billion. This estimate does not include benefits from further distribution and reuse of the imagery after it has been obtained from the USGS or from the use of value-added products derived from Landsat imagery. 

Landsat images are unique in that they provide complete global coverage, they span over 41 years of continuous Earth observation, and they are available for free to anyone in the world. No other satellite provides that combination of attributes.  

The USGS report, "Users, Uses, and Value of Landsat Satellite Imagery—Results from the 2012 Survey of Users," is available online. The survey was the second completed as part of a larger study, which also includes a survey conducted in 2009. The Landsat program is jointly managed by USGS and NASA.

Learn more

• USGS Landsat
• NASA Landsat