EVALUATION OF WESTERN KENTUCKYS

HEAVY OIL AND BITUMEN RESOURCES

2014 Eastern Unconventional Oil & Gas Symposium (EUOGS) www.euogs.org

J. Richard Bowersox 1
1
Kentucky Geological Survey, 228 Mining and Mineral Resources Building, 504 Rose
St., University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40506-0107

KEYWORDS: tar sands, heavy oil, bitumen, unconventional resources

ABSTRACT
Heavy oil- and bitumen-bearing sandstones historically asphalt rock, black
rock, and tar sands are found on the southern margin of the Illinois basin in western
Kentucky in a belt extending 60 mi north from Logan County to southern Hardin and
eastern Breckinridge Counties (Hamilton-Smith, 1994; May, 2013). Unconventional
surface to shallow subsurface tar sand resources are found in the Late Mississippian
(Chesterian Series) Hardinsburg and Big Clifty Sandstones and the unconformably
overlying Kyrock Sandstone of the Early Pennsylvanian Caseyville Formation. Syn- and
post-depositional faulting and late diagenesis (Butler, 2013) influenced deposition
(Greb, 1989) and compartmentalized the tar sands into a complex individual reservoirs.
This project reviewed records from 3,930 oil and gas wells, coreholes, and mines in the
tar sand belt, geophysical electric logs, and compiled reservoir parameters measured in
3,846 core-plug samples of permeability, porosity, and oil saturation from 150 cored
intervals, and 113 surface samples. These data were used to calculate the volume of
heavy oil and bitumen resources in the tar sands reservoirs. A preliminary estimate of
heavy oil and bitumen resources in place in the tar sands is 3.87 billion barrels, with the
largest resource in the Big Clifty (2.46 billion barrels), followed by the Caseyville (1.04
billion barrels), and Hardinsburg (366 million barrels). Historical estimates of the oil in
place in the tar sands have ranged from 73 to 77 million barrels (Walters, 1974) to 3.1
billion barrels (Noger, 1984). Volumes of heavy oil and bitumen produced by all
methods to date are negligible, limited to historical mining production. Surface deposits
were mined for road surfacing from 1890 to 1955, an industry that was replaced after
World War II by modern asphalt roads. No commercial oil production from the tar sands
using an enhanced oil recovery process has been developed to date (see Terwilliger,
1976; Marchant and Koch, 1982; Noger, 1984; May, 2013). Extraction of bitumen from
the tar sands using a solvent (Groves and Hastings, 1983; Tis, 1984; Ward and Ward,
1985), surfactant, or other industrial-plant process may be the key to developing this
resource.

GEOLOGY OF THE TAR SANDS

The distribution of the tar sands in western Kentucky is shown in Figure 1A. The
strata are part of a transgressiveregressive sequence from the Beech Creek
Limestone at its base through the Leitchfield Formation where transgressive shallow-
water marine limestones are overlain by regressive nearshore fine- to medium-grain
deltaicfluvial quartz sandstones and clay-rich shales (McGrain, 1976; Pryor and others,
1990; Nelson and Treworgy, 1994). Crossbeds in the Big Clifty and Hardinsburg show
deposition of the sandstones was generally southeast (Potter and others, 1958).
Correspondence of depositional trends in the Big Clifty and Hardinsburg with the fault
pattern (Figure 1A) suggests syndepositional influence of faulting on deposition. Late
diagenesis of the Big Clifty (Butler, 2013), and presumably also the Hardinsburg, has
contributed to the compartmentalization of the reservoirs observed in outcrops early on
(Orton, 1891; see also the photographs in McGrain, 1976, 1979, and May, 2013). The
base of the Caseyville is a major unconformity in western Kentucky (Siever, 1951;
Figure 1B). Two episodes of coarse to conglomeratic fluvial sediments are recognized
in the Caseyville: the lower of these is the Kyrock Sandstone (Figure 1B) and the upper
is the Bee Spring Sandstone (Pryor and Potter, 1979). Its origin is system of deep
paleovalleys eroded nearly 220 ft into underlying Mississippian strata (Greb, 1989;
Pryor and Potter, 1979; Figure 1B). Subsurface correlations show that where the
Kyrock is thickest in Edmonson County erosion reached as deep as the Haney
Limestone. The coincidence of paleodrainage systems with the regional fault systems
(Figure 1A) suggests structural control of the paleovalleys development (Greb, 1989)
and thus general southwest depositional trend of the Caseyville measured by Potter and
Sevier (1956). The coincidence of depositional trends. faulting, and diagenesis has
compartmentalized the tar sands into a complex of individual reservoirs.

Figure 1. Distribution and subsurface stratigraphy of the western Kentucky tar sands. A. Outcrops of tar sands (circles) are
colored-coded by interval Areas colored red are developed surface tar sands deposits in the Big Clifty, the blue area is the
developed surface deposits in the Caseyville, and the grey area is the subsurface extent of the combined reservoirs. The yellow
triangle in Edmonson County is the location of Marathon 22 Lindsey corehole (Figure 1B) and the red triangle in Logan County is
the location of Arrakis Oil Recoverys Stampede Mine. From Eldridge (1901), Richardson (1924), Clark and Crittenden (1965),
Gildersleeve (1966, 1968), Collins (1981), Williams and others (1982), this study. B. Correlated geophysical electric logs of the
Marathon 22 Lindsey corehole with lithology and reservoir parameters of porosity (Por) and oil (So) and water (Sw) saturations
shown. Oil-bearing intervals are colored coded as shown in Figure 1A There is good agreement between porosity recorded on
the formations density log and that measured in the cores.
HEAVY OIL AND BITUMEN RESERVOIRS AND RESOURCES
Rock and reservoir parameters of the tar sands were determined from analyses
of surface samples and whole-diameter cores from the subsurface and geophysical
electric logs (Figure 1B). These data were used calculate the bulk volume of heavy oil
and bitumen in the reservoirs. Porosity measured by formation density geophysical logs
generally matched that measured in cored intervals (Figure 1B). This evaluation was
completed using the Petra version 3.8.3 petroleum data management and analysis
software. Records from 3,930 wells were used to determine the presence and
thickness of heavy oil- and bitumen-saturated intervals in the Big Clifty, Hardinsburg,
and Caseyville Sandstones and construct isopach-thickness contour maps, constrained
by the depositional trends of the sediments and regional fault system, to calculate their
reservoir volumes. Resources, there are no demonstrable reserves in the tar sands,
were calculated from the reservoir volume and bulk volume of oil in place. The
preliminary estimate of heavy oil and bitumen resources in place in the tar sands are
3.87 billion barrels; the volumes of heavy oil and bitumen produced by all methods to
date are comparatively negligible. The largest resource is in the Big Clifty (2.46 billion
barrels of oil in place), followed by the Caseyville (1.04 billion barrels of oil in place) and
Hardinsburg (366 million barrels of oil in place).

RECENT ACTIVITIES
Stampede Resources, Ltd., Russellville, Kentucky, operates the only active tar
sands development project in Kentucky. Operation of a surface Big Clifty tar sand mine
and pilot bitumen extraction plant in Logan County, northeast of Russellville, began
during the fall of 2013. According to reports and public information available from the
Stampedes partners and U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the extraction
plant uses a recycleable, non-toxic and biodegradable, water-based chemical that
cleans the oil from the sand. The company currently operates on 121 acres and has
options to lease additional acreage. No information is available about the volumes of
bitumen that may have been recovered.

DISCLAIMER
This evaluation was developed from data and information (the data) in the
possession of the Kentucky Geological Survey (KGS), some of which may be non-
public data. KGS does not warrant the accuracy or completeness of the data or any
interpretations of the data presented herein, nor does it warrant the use of this
evaluation for any purpose.

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