USGS identifies largest continuous oil, gas resource potential ever assessed

Dec. 6, 2018
The US Department of the Interior reported that the Wolfcamp shale and overlying Bone Spring formation in the Delaware basin portion of Texas and New Mexico’s Permian basin province contain an estimated mean of 46.3 billion bbl of oil, 281 tcf of natural gas, and 20 billion bbl of natural gas liquids, according to an assessment by the US Geological Survey.

The US Department of the Interior reported that the Wolfcamp shale and overlying Bone Spring formation in the Delaware basin portion of Texas and New Mexico’s Permian basin province contain an estimated mean of 46.3 billion bbl of oil, 281 tcf of natural gas, and 20 billion bbl of natural gas liquids, according to an assessment by the US Geological Survey (USGS). This estimate is for continuous (unconventional) oil, and consists of undiscovered, technically recoverable resources.

“Christmas came a few weeks early this year,” said US Interior Sec. Ryan Zinke. “American strength flows from American energy, and as it turns out, we have a lot of American energy. Before this assessment came down, I was bullish on oil and gas production in the US. Now, I know for a fact that American energy dominance is within our grasp as a nation,” Zinke said.

USGS Director Jim Reilly said, “In the 1980s, during my time in the petroleum industry, the Permian and similar mature basins were not considered viable for producing large new recoverable resources. Today, thanks to advances in technology, the Permian basin continues to impress in terms of resource potential. The results of this most recent assessment and that of the Wolfcamp formation in the Midland basin in 2016 are our largest continuous oil and gas assessments ever released. Knowing where these resources are located and how much exists is crucial to ensuring both our energy independence and energy dominance.”

Although the USGS has previously assessed conventional oil and gas resources in the Permian basin province, this is the first assessment of continuous resources in the Wolfcamp shale and Bone Spring formation in the Delaware basin portion of the Permian. Oil and gas companies are currently producing oil here using both traditional vertical well technology and horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing.

The Wolfcamp shale in the Midland basin portion of the Permian province was assessed separately in 2016, and at that time it was the largest assessment of continuous oil conducted by the USGS. The Delaware basin assessment of the Wolfcamp shale and Bone Spring formation is more than two times larger than that of the Midland basin. The Permian basin province includes a series of basins and other geologic formations in West Texas and southern New Mexico. It is one of the most productive areas for oil and gas in the entire US.

“The results we’ve released today demonstrate the impact that improved technologies such as hydraulic fracturing and directional drilling have had on increasing the estimates of undiscovered, technically recoverable continuous (i.e., unconventional) resources,” said Walter Guidroz, program coordinator of the USGS energy resources program.

Undiscovered resources are those that are estimated to exist based on geologic knowledge and already established production, while technically recoverable resources are those that can be produced using currently available technology and industry practices. Whether or not it is profitable to produce these resources has not been evaluated.