TomCo Energy is a US operating oil development group focused on using innovative technology to unlock unconventional hydrocarbon resources

The State of Utah is home to the largest tar sand resource in the United States. The Utah Geological Survey claims a measured oil-in-place of 14 to 15 billion barrels, whereas Ball (1964) speculates that the bitumen (oil) in-place could be as high as 25 billion barrels. There are in the order of 25 tar-sand deposits known from bitumen-saturated outcrops, but most of the tar-sand resource in the Uinta Basin is contained in four principal areas: Asphalt Ridge, P.R. Springs, Hill Creek, and Sunnyside. The Asphalt Ridge tar-sand deposit is located on the north flank of the Uinta Basin in steeply dipping rocks of the Cretaceous-aged Mesaverde Group and Eocene/Oligocene-aged Duchesne River Formation (Blackett, 1996). The P.R. Springs and Hill Creek deposits are located along the southeast margin of the basin in gently dipping Eocene-aged rocks of the Green River Formation, and the Sunnyside deposit on the southern margin of the basin is contained within the Eocene-aged Wasatch and Green River Formations (Blackett, 1996).

The State of Utah, being a major oil-producing province with annual production on the order of 37.4 million barrels (EIA, 2020), has substantial petroleum exploration and appraisal data (geological mapping, well logs, hydrocarbon analyses), oil field infrastructure, pipelines and refineries. The tar-sand deposits of Utah’s Uinta Basin, although not yet achieving large scale commercial development, have garnered considerable attention from the petroleum industry, and there exists an abundance of exploration and appraisal data to enable definition of areas of greatest potential for appraisal and development.