The Department of the Interior has released a new report from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) detailing estimates of undiscovered oil and gas resources beneath federally managed public lands in the United States. The report indicates that there are technically recoverable resources amounting to 29.4 billion barrels of oil and 391.6 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.
These quantities, if produced, could supply the nation's oil needs for four years and meet its natural gas requirements for nearly twelve years at current consumption rates.
"American Energy Dominance is more important than ever, and this report underscores the critical role science plays in informing our energy future," stated Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum. He emphasized that thanks to USGS's rigorous assessment, America is better positioned to manage its public lands responsibly while supporting energy security and economic opportunity.
The report covers onshore public lands administered by various federal departments including Agriculture, Defense, Energy, Interior, and the Tennessee Valley Authority.
The latest estimates represent significant increases from those made in 1998 by USGS, which had calculated 7.86 billion barrels of oil and 201.1 trillion cubic feet of gas. These increases are attributed not to changes in subsurface conditions but rather advancements in energy production technologies since then. Unlike previous assessments focusing solely on conventional resources, the current estimates include unconventional resources such as shale oil, tight oil, tight gas trapped in impermeable rock formations, and coal-bed gas—resources typically extracted using fracking techniques.
"The USGS assesses the potential for energy resources where science tells us there may be a resource that hasn’t been discovered yet," said Sarah Ryker, acting director of USGS. She noted that extensive existing data was leveraged to estimate these resources on federally managed public lands with expectations that these findings will aid state and national land management as well as economic development planning.
The estimates were derived from previously published reports encompassing 579 assessment units within 69 geologic provinces across the nation assessed by USGS for undiscovered recoverable oil and gas. Resources were allocated proportionally based on each unit's percentage of public land.
