Richards

 Island

Tuktoyaktuk

UNITED Peninsula

STATES

OF

AMERICA

CANADA

 Boundary of Province

 and Upper Cretaceous 

 and Tertiary 

 Composite TPS

Deep Water Delta AU

Outer Fault and 

Foldbelt AU

Inner Fault and

Foldbelt AU

Normal Fault Zone AU Assessed

Mackenzie River

Not assessed

Normal fault zone AU

Jurassic and Lower 

Cretaceous Composite

TPS and AU

Not assessed

Area of

145° 140° 135° 130° 125°

67°

68°

69°

70°

71°

72°

73°

74°

North

0 100 MILES

0 100 KILOMETERS

America

Using a geology-based assessment 

methodology, the U.S. Geological

Survey estimated a mean of 40 

trillion cubic feet of undiscovered 

nonassociated gas, a mean of 10.5 

billion barrels of undiscovered 

oil (with 46.6 trillion cubic feet 

of associated gas), and a mean of 

4.0 billion barrels of undiscovered 

natural gas liquids in the Mackenzie 

Delta Province of North America, 

exclusive of the unassessed deepwater portion of the province.

World Energy Assessment Project Fact Sheet

Assessment of Undiscovered Oil and Gas Resources of the 

Mackenzie Delta Province, North America, 2004

Introduction

In 2004 the U.S. Geological Survey 

(USGS) completed an assessment of the 

potential for undiscovered oil and gas in 

the Mackenzie Delta Province of northern 

North America (fig. 1). This assessment 

provides a better understanding of the potential contribution of circum-Arctic petroleum reserves to world energy supply. This 

province was identified during the World 

Petroleum Assessment 2000 conducted by 

the USGS (U.S. Geological Survey World 

Energy Assessment Team, 2000) but was 

not assessed then because its known petroleum volume at the time was considered 

insufficient to be included in that effort. 

It represents, however, the first province 

assessed for the USGS Arctic Assessment 

task of the World Energy project within the 

Energy Resources Team, Denver, Colorado. The Mackenzie Delta Province is the 

most data-rich and well-explored province 

included in the Arctic Assessment task 

but, with only about 250 exploration wells 

in a delta complex roughly equivalent in 

area and sediment thickness to the Mississippi delta complex, it remains a frontier 

area compared with most other world 

petroleum provinces. The Mackenzie 

Delta Province (fig. 1), as defined for this 

assessment, is bounded on the north by the 

3,000-m isobath and on the east and west 

primarily by basin-floor geometry related 

to Cenozoic deltaic depositional systems. On the south and southeast, it is bounded by outcrops 

of rocks included in two total petroleum systems (TPS) that are described below. 

On the basis of the essential geologic elements of a TPS (hydrocarbon source rocks, 

favorable timing of hydrocarbon generation and migration, reservoir rocks, and hydrocarbon

traps), two composite TPS are defined for the Mackenzie Delta Province: the Jurassic and 

Lower Cretaceous Composite TPS and the Upper Cretaceous and Tertiary Composite TPS. 

Shale of the Upper Jurassic to Lower Cretaceous Husky Formation and coal beds in the 

Lower Cretaceous Kamik Formation are the probable source rocks for the Jurassic and 

Lower Cretaceous Composite TPS. Probable source rocks for the Upper Cretaceous and 

Tertiary Composite TPS include the Upper Cretaceous Boundary Creek and Smoking Hills 

Formations, the Upper Cretaceous to Paleocene Fish River sequence, the Eocene Taglu and 

Richards sequences, and the Oligocene Kugmallit sequence. One assessment unit (AU), 

the Jurassic and Lower Cretaceous AU, was defined for the Jurassic and Lower Cretaceous 

Figure 1.  Mackenzie Delta Province of northern North America. AU, assessment unit; TPS, total petroleum system;

light-pink area, a deeper TPS below more extensive, shallower TPS.

U.S. Department of the Interior

U.S. Geological Survey

Fact Sheet 2006–3002

March 2006 Printed on recycled paper
Table 1.  Mackenzie Delta Province assessment results.

[AU, assessment unit; BCFG, billion cubic feet of gas; MMBNGL, million barrels of natural gas liquids; MMBO, million barrels of oil; NGL, natural gas liquids; TPS, 

total petroleum system. For geologic elements of the AU, results shown are fully risked estimates rounded to the nearest unit. For gas accumulations, all liquids are 

included as NGL. F95 denotes a 95 percent chance of at least the amount tabulated. Other fractiles defined similarly. Fractiles are additive only under the assumption of 

perfect positive correlation. Gray shading indicates not applicable]

Composite TPS (fig. 1). Four AUs were defined for the Upper 

Cretaceous and Tertiary Composite TPS: the Normal Fault Zone, the 

Outer Fault and Foldbelt, the Inner Fault and Foldbelt, and the Deep 

Water Delta. Quantitative estimates of the undiscovered oil and gas 

resources were made for four of the five AUs (table 1); the Deep 

Water Delta AU was not assessed. The possibility of a TPS composed 

of lower Paleozoic source and reservoir rocks was recognized, but no 

AUs were defined and no assessment was made. 

Because of the great thickness of deltaic deposits in the Mackenzie Delta Province—more than 14 km of Upper Cretaceous to Holocene strata—some uncertainty exists regarding the exact ages of, and 

the richness and type of organic matter in, the principal source rocks. 

In addition, because of structural complexity and numerous unconformities, traps may not have been preserved. In spite of these and other 

risks and uncertainties, there is ample evidence that at least two major 

composite petroleum systems have been active in the assessed portions of the province. As of 2002, about 250 wells had been drilled 

and about 50 hydrocarbon accumulations discovered. The potential 

for unconventional resources such as gas from hydrates also exists, 

but for this assessment only conventional resources were assessed. 

Resource Summary

For the four AUs assessed in the Mackenzie Delta Province, the 

USGS made the following estimates (see table 1): (1) 13.5–75.3 (mean, 

40.0) trillion cubic feet (TCF) of nonassociated gas (gas in gas fields); 

(2) 3.6–19.6 (mean, 10.5) billion barrels of oil containing 15.0–92.4 

(mean, 46.6) TCF of associated gas (gas in oil fields); and (3) 1.2–8.2 

(mean, 4.0) billion barrels of natural gas liquids. These estimates do not 

include resources in the Deep Water Delta AU, which was not assessed. 

About 75 percent of the estimated undiscovered nonassociated 

gas reserves is assigned to the offshore in three assessment units: the 

Normal Fault Zone AU, the Outer Fault and Foldbelt AU, and the 

Inner Fault and Foldbelt AU. About 40 percent (16 TCF) of the 

total mean undiscovered nonassociated gas (40 TCF) is estimated 

to be in the Normal Fault Zone AU (table 1). The Jurassic and 

Lower Cretaceous AU and the Outer Fault and Foldbelt AU are 

each estimated to contain about 26 percent of the total mean undiscovered nonassociated gas. The remaining nonassociated gas 

(3 TCF) was assigned to the Inner Fault and Foldbelt AU. 

Virtually all of the undiscovered oil, associated gas, and 

natural gas liquids are expected in the offshore parts of the 

three AUs that were assessed in the Upper Cretaceous and 

Tertiary Composite Total Petroleum System.

For Further Information

Assessment results are available at the USGS Central 

Energy Team website: http://energy.cr.usgs.gov/oilgas/, or contact Regional Coordinators for North America Kenneth Bird 

(kbird@usgs.gov) or David Houseknecht (dhouse@usgs.gov).

Mackenzie Delta Province Assessment Team

Mitchell E. Henry, emeritus; Thomas S. Ahlbrandt, Ronald 

R. Charpentier, Donald L. Gautier, Timothy R. Klett, Richard M. 

Pollastro, Christopher J. Schenk, and Gregory F. Ulmishek.

Reference Cited

U.S. Geological Survey World Energy Assessment Team, 

2000, U.S. Geological Survey World Petroleum Assessment 

2000—Description and results: U.S. Geological Survey Digital Data Series DDS–60, multidisc set, version 1.1, 2000.

Conventional oil and gas resources

Total petroleum systems and 

assessment units

Field 

type

Total undiscovered resources

Oil (MMBO) Gas (BCFG) NGL (MMBNGL)

F95 F50 F5 Mean F95 F50 F5 Mean F95 F50 F5 Mean

Jurassic and Lower Cretaceous Composite TPS

Jurassic and Lower

Cretaceous AU

Oil 10 22 40 23 46 108 215 117 3 6 14 7

Gas 3,429 9,954 19,476 10,518 169 512 1,092 556

Upper Cretaceous and Tertiary Composite TPS

Normal Fault Zone AU

Oil 1,544 3,622 6,957 3,867 6,605 16,573 35,048 18,176 108 291 667 327

Gas 6,269 15,099 28,568 16,001 304 779 1,616 847

Outer Fault and Foldbelt 

AU

Oil 1,746 4,868 9,656 5,197 7,530 22,245 48,537 24,431 418 1,295 3,082 1,465

Gas 3,107 9,630 20,775 10,488 153 497 1,167 556

Inner Fault and Foldbelt 

AU

Oil 320 1,221 2,929 1,373 836 3,326 8,600 3,842 14 58 162 69

Gas 710 2,699 6,448 3,028 35 139 359 161

Deep Water Delta AU Not quantitatively assessed

Total conventional resources

Oil 3,621 9,734 19,582 10,460 15,016 42,252 92,399 46,566 543 1,651 3,924 1,868

Gas 13,515 37,382 75,266 40,035 661 1,927 4,234 2,121

Total undiscovered oil and 

gas resources

Oil

and 

gas

3,621 9,734 19,582 10,460 28,532 79,634 167,666 86,601 1,204 3,578 8,158 3,989