The newest assessment pegs undiscovered technically recoverable oil resources on the US Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) at 65.8 billion bbl and undiscovered gas at 218.43 Tcf.
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) announced on 9 March the latest National Assessment, which is published every 5 years, represents the potential for a century or more of energy production from the shelf, based on current production levels.
The assessment uses a play-based methodology and represents BOEM’s current understanding of the distribution of undiscovered oil and gas resources outside of known oil and gas fields. The assessment analyzed each geologic play across the OCS and assigned a probability for the existence of undiscovered oil and gas resources for individual plays, which were aggregated regionally before being estimated across the total OCS.
In a news release, BOEM Acting Director Matt Giacona said the US OCS holds “tremendous resource potential.”
The breakdown for oil is the Gulf of Mexico (Gulf of America) OCS with 26.9 billion bbl, Alaska OCS with 24.1 billion bbl, Pacific OCS with 10.3 billion bbl, and Atlantic OCS with 4.5 billion bbl, for a total of 65.8 billion bbl. The gas breakdown is Alaska OCS with 122.3 Tcf, the Gulf OCS with 45.6 Tcf, Atlantic OCS with 34.4 Tcf, and Pacific with 16.2 Tcf, for a total of 218.4 Tcf.
According to the current assessment report, BOEM’s 2026 mean estimate of undiscovered technically recoverable resources for the entire OCS represents a decrease of 2.99 billion bbl for oil, or about 4%, and a decrease of 10.6 Tcf for gas, or about 5%, from the 2021 assessment.
For the Gulf, the 2026 numbers are down 9% for oil and 17% for gas, partly due to the refinement of field-size distributions and the estimated number of prospects for some mature geologic plays, according to the assessment.
Alaska estimates dropped slightly, due to reassessment of risk profiles and adjustments to the spatial extent of assessment units throughout the region.
On the other hand, estimates for the Pacific recorded a minor increase, and estimates for the Atlantic OCS rose due in large part to new information derived from global analog plays and adjustments to play and prospect risk profiles.