The US Geological Survey released its assessment of potential for undiscovered oil and gas in the Niobrara formation in southwest Wyoming and northwest Colorado.
The assessment determined that there are technically recoverable resources of 703 million bbl of oil and 5.8 tcf of gas. This is enough undiscovered oil in the Niobrara Formation to meet US needs for 1 month, and as much undiscovered natural gas as the US consumes in 2 months at the current rates of consumption.
This is the second recent oil and gas assessment in the Southwestern Wyoming Geologic Province, following the assessment of the Mowry Composite Total Petroleum System, which lies below the Niobrara Formation (OGJ Online, May 22, 2025).
Alex Procyk is Upstream Editor at Oil & Gas Journal. He has also served as a principal technical professional at Halliburton and as a completion engineer at ConocoPhillips. He holds a BS in chemistry (1987) from Kent State University and a PhD in chemistry (1992) from Carnegie Mellon University. He is a member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE).
