Energy Resources Program
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The Energy Resources Program conducts research and assessments to advance the understanding of the Nation’s energy resources. We study processes critical to the formation, accumulation, occurrence and alteration of geologically based energy resources; prepare resource assessments; and evaluate the environmental and socioeconomic effects of energy resource occurrence, production and use.
Our Science
Understanding the national and global availability of resources as well as the environmental impacts of their development is essential for strategic decision making related to the nation’s energy mix.
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Current Press Releases, Technical Announcements, Publications, Field Reports, and Science Highlights.
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News
Test Well Confirms Two Gas Hydrate Reservoirs in Alaska North Slope
In the far north of Alaska, near the giant Prudhoe Bay oil field, an international research consortium has been studying the potential of an altogether different energy source. In late December of 2018, drilling operations confirmed the existence of two high-quality reservoirs that were fully saturated with a potential alternative fuel source: gas hydrate.
Making Minerals-How Growing Rocks Can Help Reduce Carbon Emissions
Following an assessment of geologic carbon storage potential in sedimentary rocks, the USGS has published a comprehensive review of potential carbon storage in igneous and metamorphic rocks through a process known as carbon mineralization.
USGS Announces Largest Continuous Oil Assessment in Texas and New Mexico
Estimates Include 46.3 Billion Barrels of Oil, 281 Trillion Cubic feet of Natural Gas, and 20 Billion Barrels of Natural Gas Liquids in Texas and New Mexico’s Wolfcamp Shale and Bone Spring Formation.
Publications
Statistics of petroleum exploration in the world outside the United States and Canada through 2015
The world’s future oil and gas supplies depend on existing reserves and the additions to those reserves that may result, in part, from ongoing exploration and new discoveries. This Circular summarizes available oil and gas exploration data for the world outside the United States and Canada (the study area) through 2015. It updates U.S. Geological...
Attanasi, Emil D.; Freeman, Philip A.
Assessment of continuous oil and gas resources in the Beetaloo Basin, Australia, 2018
Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated undiscovered, technically recoverable mean resources of 429 million barrels of continuous oil and 8 trillion cubic feet of continuous gas in the Beetaloo Basin of northern Australia.
Schenk, Christopher J.; Mercier, Tracey J.; Woodall, Cheryl A.; Finn, Thomas M.; Marra, Kristen R.; Brownfield, Michael E.; Leathers-Miller, Heidi M.; Drake, Ronald M.
Assessment of tight-oil and tight-gas resources in the Junggar and Santanghu Basins of Northwestern China, 2018
Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated undiscovered, technically recoverable mean resources of 241 million barrels of tight oil and 10.1 trillion cubic feet of tight gas in the Junggar and Santanghu Basins of northwestern China.
Potter, Christopher J.; Schenk, Christopher J.; Mercier, Tracey J.; Tennyson, Marilyn E.; Finn, Thomas M.; Woodall, Cheryl A.; Leathers-Miller, Heidi M.; Marra, Kristen R.; Le, Phuong A.; Drake, Ronald M.; Brownfield, Michael E.; Pitman, Janet K.