By Maureen Lorenzetti
OGJ Online
WASHINGTON, DC, Mar. 22�US federal lands have the potential to contain large oil and gas deposits, government and industry witnesses told the House Committee on Resources Thursday.
The US Department of the Interior and the American Association of Petroleum Geologists made the statements at a Subcommittee on Energy and Minerals Resources hearing.
The US Geological Survey said assuming 1995-era technology, there are about 112 billion bbl of technically recoverable oil onshore and off and a remaining gas resource base of 1,074 tcf. This is five times the 21 billion bbl now considered proven reserves onshore and off.
USGS's assessment is being updated and early results are due next year. Another interior department agency, the Minerals Management Service, said there is great untapped oil and gas potential on federal offshore lands off limits to drilling because of presidential and congressional moratoriums.
In its latest assessment, released 2 months ago, MMS estimated the OCS mean resource base is 75 billion bbl of oil and 362 tcf of gas.
From the 1995 study, MMS said, the mean estimates increased by 29 billion bbl of oil and 94 tcf. The agency attributed that to recent deepwater discoveries in the central and western Gulf of Mexico.
Within the latest totals, MMS also determined undiscovered conventionally recoverable resources foregone by the 1998 moratorium issued by President Bill Clinton. The agency said about 16 billion bbl of oil and 62 tcf of gas are off limits.
Drilling proponents on Capitol Hill argue that some of the federal offshore areas should be made available to boost domestic supply.
According to a 1998 National Petroleum Council study funded by industry and the federal government, industry must double the amount of wells currently being drilled to maintain output.
US crude production has dropped to about 5.8 million b/d, according to a House Committee on Resources paper. That's a rate not seen since the early 1950s. Yet Americans consume about 19.5 million b/d.
In an effort to reduce imported oil, President George W. Bush is said to be considering policies that would lift drilling bans on some of the federal offshore. Also on the table are onshore areas now restricted from drilling (OGJ Online, Mar. 15).
To that end, Republican lawmakers asked USGS to estimate how much oil and gas may be on public lands restricted by the Clinton administration in 1996-2001. Of the 21 areas designated or expanded by Clinton, the USGS said five had significant hydrocarbon potential.
It said the California Coastal National Monument would have a high probability of oil on and offshore although volumes would be considered small by commercial standards. The area is also gas-prone, although volumes would also be small.
The Canyons of the Ancients National Monument in Colorado was rated as an oil-prone area with "medium" volumes.
The Carrizo Plain National Monument in California was considered an oil and gas-prone region with high volume potential.
USGS said the Hanaford Reach National Monument in Washington state was a gas-prone area with a potential for large volumes.
And the potential Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument in Montana was oil and-gas prone with high volume potential.
Contact Maureen Lorenzetti at [email protected]
