Undiscovered Oil and Gas Resources

When the U.S. Department of the Interior released its 1989 estimates of how much undiscovered oil and gas remain in the United States, a controversy ensued. Some members of the petroleum industry charged that the estimates were too low. This book evaluates the scientific credibility of the statistical and geological methods underlying the estimates.Table of ContentsFront MatterExecutive Summary1 Introduction: Questions about the Department of the Interior2 Limitations of Resource Assessments3 An Evaluation of the Department of the Interior4 RecommendationsAppendixesA Evaluation of the Hydrocarbon Resource Estimates for the Offshore Areas of Northern and Southern California and Florida South of 26° LatitudeB Adequacy of the Data Base for Hydrocarbon Estimates of the Georges Bank Area of the North Atlantic Outer Continental ShelfC The Effects of Play Mixing in the Permian BasinD Background: Components of the Petroleum Resource Base