Oil & Gas Energy Program

The OCS is a significant source of oil and gas for the Nation’s energy supply. The approximately 26 million (as of March 2016) leased OCS acres account for about 5 percent of America’s domestic natural gas production and about 16 percent of America’s domestic oil production. BOEM manages the nation's offshore resources to ensure that production and drilling are done in an environmentally and economically responsible manner, and that production facilities are timely removed.

The offshore areas of the United States are estimated to contain significant quantities of resources in yet-to-be-discovered fields. The Bureau estimates of oil and gas resources in undiscovered fields on the OCS (2016 National Assessment, mean estimates) total about 90 billion barrels of oil and 327 trillion cubic feet of gas.