The US Energy Information Administration released a special report in early March that provided more detail on production of fossil fuels from onshore and offshore federal leases as well as Indian lands in the 2003-11 fiscal period.
Although EIA regularly publishes production summaries in its annual energy outlook, the new report included previously excluded categories, such as volumes on which no royalties were paid due to lease provisions and those which were transferred to the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve under the old royalty-in-kind program. It also reported sales entirely in the year that they occurred, instead of some sales when royalties were collected.
Consequently, said EIA, the volumes contained in the latest report provide a better indication of actual marketed production from federal and Indian leases. It acknowledged contributions from the US Office of Natural Resources Revenue, which collected and shared the information.
The report arrived as the Obama administration argued that this production has increased, and many oil and gas producers contended that it has declined.
It said that oil production from these leases increased from 642 million bbl in fiscal 2009 to 739 million bll in 2010 before decreasing to 646 million bbl in 2011. Crude production from federal lands is dominated by US Outer Continental Shelf output, it noted.
OCS factors
The numbers showed that crude production there was 579 million bbl in fiscal 2003, 471 million bbl in 2006, 527 million bbl in 2009, 618 million bbl in 2010, and 514 million bbl in 2011. Trends reflected the timing of several deepwater development projects, production disruptions and damages from hurricanes, and government actions following the 2010 Macondo deepwater well blowout and spill, EIA said.
Natural gas volumes decreased yearly from 2003, when they were 7,080 bcf, to 2011, when they were 4,859 bcf, the report showed. Figures showed that OCS production declines were primarily responsible, while gas production from federal onshore leases peaked at 3,170 bcf in 2009 before dropping to 2,955 bcf in 2011 (which was still above 2003's total of 2,274 bcf).
Natural gas liquids volumes from federal and Indian leases peaked at 115 million bbl in 2010 before declining to 111 million bbl in 2011, according to the report. Such NGL sales been fairly constant at 14-17% of total US gas liquids production since 2003, it indicated.
The data reflect more than federal leasing and production policies, the report said. Rapid increases in tight shale gas production in the last 5 years have affected prices and the relative attraction of conventional resources on federal lands, it noted. Private landowners also require drilling sooner than the federal government does, it added.
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