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.
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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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Earth Science Week 2020 Highlights
USGS has been a longtime sponsor of Earth Science Week founded in 1998 by the American Geosciences Institute (AGI). It is an annual international event held during the second week of October to encourage better public understanding of and appreciation for the Earth Sciences and Earth stewardship.
Recent Publications: Energy Quarterly Fall 2020
Featured article in Fall 2020 Edition of the Energy Quarterly Newsletter.
USGS Estimates Undiscovered Oil and Gas Resources in the Austin Chalk Formation of the U.S. Gulf Coast
The Austin Chalk and Tokio and Eutaw Formations of the Gulf Coast Basin contain a mean of 6.9 billion barrels of oil and 41.5 trillion cubic feet of natural gas according to a new assessment by the U.S. Geological Survey. In comparison, the U.S. Energy Information Administration estimates that the United States used 7.5 billion barrels of petroleum products in 2019.
Publications
Structure contour and isopach maps of the Wolfcamp shale and Bone Spring Formation of the Delaware Basin, Permian Basin Province, New Mexico and Texas
A series of structure contour and isopach maps for the Wolfcamp shale and the Bone Spring Formation of the Delaware Basin, Permian Basin Province, were generated in support of the U.S. Geological Survey 2018 assessment of undiscovered continuous oil and gas resources. The interpreted formation tops used to generate the maps are from the IHS Markit...
Gaswirth, Stephanie B.
Assessment of undiscovered oil and gas resources in the Upper Cretaceous Austin Chalk and Tokio and Eutaw Formations, U.S. Gulf Coast, 2019
Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated undiscovered, technically recoverable mean resources of 6.9 billion barrels of oil and 41.5 trillion cubic feet of natural gas in conventional and continuous accumulations in the Upper Cretaceous Austin Chalk and Tokio and Eutaw Formations onshore and in State...
Pitman, Janet K.; Paxton, Stanley T.; Kinney, Scott A.; Whidden, Katherine J.; Haines, Seth S.; Varela, Brian A.; Mercier, Tracey J.; Woodall, Cheryl A.; Schenk, Christopher J.; Leathers-Miller, Heidi M.; Pearson, Ofori N.; Burke, Lauri A.; Le, Phuong A.; Birdwell, Justin E.; Gianoutsos, Nicholas J.; French, Katherine L.; Drake, Ronald M.; Finn, Thomas M.; Ellis, Geoffrey S.; Gaswirth, Stephanie B.; Marra, Kristen R.; Tennyson, Marilyn E.; Shorten, Chilisa M.
Assessment of undiscovered gas resources in the Lewis Shale Total Petroleum System of the San Juan Basin Province, New Mexico and Colorado, 2020
Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated undiscovered, technically recoverable mean resources of 2.6 trillion cubic feet of gas in the Lewis Shale Total Petroleum System of the San Juan Basin Province, New Mexico and Colorado.
Marra, Kristen R.; Schenk, Christopher J.; Mercier, Tracey J.; Leathers-Miller, Heidi M.; Tennyson, Marilyn E.; Finn, Thomas M.; Woodall, Cheryl A.; Brownfield, Michael E.; Le, Phuong A.; Drake, Ronald M.