Not in My Back Yard - How Much of the Nation's Federal Oil and Gas Is Locked Up?

Richard Watson¹ and Jeffrey Eppink^2
1U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management, Washington, DC
²Enegis, LLC, Fairfax, VA

For many years there has been an ongoing debate over how much of the oil and natural gas resources under Federal ownership is available for exploration and development. While the offshore picture is relatively clear, the onshore situation remains a contentious issue. On one side, most of the petroleum industry assert that large amounts of Federal lands are inaccessible or severely constrained due to the imposition of numerous restrictions and mitigations to protect the environment. On the other side some environmental interest groups claim just the opposite - that almost all Federal lands are available for leasing and development with few restrictions. The only way to efficiently arrive at a quantitative assessment of this situation is through the use of geographic information system technology.

The Energy Policy Acts of 2000 and 2005 require the Secretary of the Interior to conduct inventories of the oil and gas resources under Federal lands and to determine their availability for exploration and development. Phase I of the onshore inventory was released by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in early 2003.

The Minerals Management Service released the Outer Continental Shelf inventory in early 2006. Of the estimated 86 Bbbl of oil and 420 Tcf of natural gas in the Federal offshore, 22% and 20% were closed to leasing, respectively.

In late 2006, the BLM released Phase II of the onshore, or "EPCA", inventory. Of the estimated 21 Bbbl of oil and 187 Tcf of natural gas under Federal lands in 11 onshore basins, 51% and 27% were closed to leasing, respectively.

The presentation will reveal further details about the GIS methodology behind these inventories using maps and charts created through the use of geospatial technologies.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90078©2008 AAPG Annual Convention, San Antonio, Texas