Offshore areas of the United States hold about 12 percent more undiscovered natural gas reserves than last estimated by the federal government in 2000, according to the U.S. Minerals Management Service.
Based on information gleaned from new exploration activities in the Gulf of Mexico and Canada’s Scotian basin, MMS now estimates a mean 406 trillion cubic feet of gas of natural are “technically recoverable” from federal offshore areas of the U.S. East and West coasts, Alaska, and in the Gulf of Mexico.
“About 91 percent of the this increase in the natural gas estimate is due to new information obtained from recent exploration activities in the Gulf of Mexico,” MMS said Dec. 21.
Oil reserves that could be recovered from offshore areas of the United States were estimated to be an average 76 billion barrels, roughly the same as forecasted in 2000. MMS officially updates its oil and gas reserve estimates every five years.
At year-end 2002, the U.S. offshore supplied more than 25 percent of the country’s natural gas production and more than 30 percent of total domestic oil production.
MMS also believes that offshore areas of the United States contain the majority of future oil and gas resources and estimates that 60 percent of the oil and 59 percent of the gas yet to be discovered are located offshore.
However, the agency cautioned that its oil and gas reserve estimates represent “potential hydrocarbons of an area that can be produced using current technology, without any consideration to economic feasibility.”
On the gas side, combined estimates for all U.S. offshore areas range from a low of 326.2 tcf to a high of 520 tcf, with a mean of 406.1 tcf.
Estimates for the Gulf of Mexico alone ranged from 208.9 tcf to 267.6 tcf, with a mean of 232.5 tcf.
Offshore areas of Alaska could hold as little as 54.6 tcf and as much as 226.2 tcf, with a mean of 122.1 tcf.
Estimates for the Atlantic region ranged from 19.8 tcf to 50.6 tcf, with a mean of 33.3 tcf. Estimates for the Pacific region ranged from 7.4 tcf to 38.2 tcf, with a mean of 18.2 tcf.
On the oil side, combined estimates ranged from as low as 62.1 billion barrels to a high of 93 billion barrels, with a mean of 76 billion barrels.
Estimates for the Gulf of Mexico ranged from 31.5 billion barrels to 44 billion barrels, with a mean of 36.9 billion barrels.
Offshore areas of Alaska could contain from 16.6 billion barrels of reserves to as much as 35.9 billion barrels, with a mean of 25.1 billion barrels.
Estimates for the Atlantic region ranged from 1.9 billion barrels to 5.3 billion barrels, with a mean of 3.5 billion barrels. The Pacific region could contain 4.4 billion barrels to 21.8 billion barrels, with a mean of 10.5 billion barrels.
