U.S. Geological Survey

Digital Data Series DDS–69–DD

Oil Shale Assessment Project:

Oil Shale Resources of the Eocene Green River Formation, Greater 

Green River Basin, Wyoming, Colorado, and Utah

By U.S. Geological Survey Oil Shale Assessment Team 

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

KEN SALAZAR, Secretary

U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY

Marcia K. McNutt, Director

Available from U.S. Geological Survey Information Services

Box 25286, Building 810

Denver Federal Center

Denver, CO 80225-0086

Telephone (303) 202-4200

For more information about the U.S. Geological Survey and its products:

Telephone 1-888-ASK-USGS

URL: http://www.usgs.gov/

Introduction

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) recently completed a comprehensive 

assessment of in-place oil in oil shales in the Eocene Green River in the Greater 

Green River Basin, Wyoming, Colorado, and Utah. This DVD includes 

reports, data, and an ArcGIS project describing the assessment. A database was 

compiled that includes about 47,000 Fischer assays from 186 core holes and 240 

rotary drill holes. Most of the oil yield data were analyzed by the former U.S. 

Bureau of Mines oil shale laboratory in Laramie, Wyoming, and some analyses 

were made by private laboratories. Location data for 971 Wyoming oil-shale drill 

holes are listed in a spreadsheet and included in the DVD. Total in-place 

resources for the three assessed units in the Green River Formation are: (1) Tipton 

Shale Member, 362,816 million barrels of oil (MMBO), (2) Wilkins Peak Member, 

704,991 MMBO, and (3) LaClede Bed of the Laney Member, 377,184 MMBO, for 

a total of 1.44 trillion barrels of oil in place. This compares with estimated in-place 

resources for the Piceance Basin of Colorado of 1.53 trillion barrels and estimated 

in-place resources for the Uinta Basin of Utah and Colorado of 1.32 trillion barrels.

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Contact Information

This volume is one of a series of products resulting from the National Oil and Gas Project of the U.S. 

Geological Survey. Inquiries about this DVD or the project should be addressed to:

Ronald C. Johnson, Project Chief

U.S. Geological Survey

Box 25046, Mail Stop 939

Denver Federal Center

Denver, CO 80225-0046

Telephone: (303) 236-5546

E-mail: rcjohnson@usgs.gov

Disclaimer

This Compact Disc-Read Only Memory (DVD) publication was prepared by an agency of the 

United States Government. Neither the United States Government nor any agency thereof, nor any of its 

employees, make any warranty, expressed or implied, or assume any legal liability or responsibility for 

the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product, or process disclosed in 

this report, or represent that its use would not infringe privately owned rights. Reference therein to any 

specific commercial product, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise 

does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the United 

States Government or any agency thereof. Although all data and software published on this DVD

have been used by the USGS, no warranty, expressed or implied, is made by the USGS as to the accuracy of the data and related materials and (or) the functioning of the software. The act of distribution shall 

not constitute any such warranty, and no responsibility is assumed by the USGS in the use of these data, 

the software, or related materials.

Using This DVD

The descriptive and interpretive text chapters of this volume are in PDF format. Use Adobe Acrobat 

Reader, version 7.0 or later to access these chapters.

Contained on this DVD are tabular data and graphical data in support of the assessment. The 

chapter text PDF contains links to the data and images. Data-table files in various formats are presented, 

usable in spreadsheet and database software. Graphical and summary-table files are presented as portable document format files (.pdf files) and spreadsheets.

GIS information is presented in the Spatial folder and its subfolders that contain the spatial data and 

documentation. The Spatial folder may be downloaded at DDS 69–DD in Spatial zip.

The Spatial folder contains ArcView/ArcGIS shapefiles, GRIDs, TINs, and various tables in .dbf and 

.xls formats.
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Contents of This DVD

When the DVD is opened, the following folders appear on the screen: 

OPEN_FIRST—from OPEN_FIRST.pdf in this folder, navigate to the 

ReadMe file, assessment reports plus support data, and spatial data. 

READ_ME—you can access the ReadMe file from this folder also. 

REPORTS—listing of, and links to, the chapters, plus the supporting data.

SPATIAL—folder contains the Readme_Spatial.pdf file for the GIS data

that may be downloaded at DDS–69–DD in Spatial.zip.