Abstract
The truncated shifted Pareto (TSP) distribution, a variant of the two-parameter Pareto distribution, in which one parameter is added to shift the distribution right and left and the right-hand side is truncated, is used to model size distributions of oil and gas fields for resource assessment. Assumptions about limits to the left-hand and right-hand side reduce the number of parameters to two. The TSP distribution has advantages over the more customary lognormal distribution because it has a simple analytic expression, allowing exact computation of several statistics of interest, has a “J-shape,” and has more flexibility in the thickness of the right-hand tail. Oil field sizes from the Minnelusa play in the Powder River Basin, Wyoming and Montana, are used as a case study. Probability plotting procedures allow easy visualization of the fit and help the assessment.
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Houghton, J.C. Use of the truncated shifted Pareto distribution in assessing size distribution of oil and gas fields. Math Geol 20, 907–937 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00892970
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00892970