Outer Continental Shelf Moratoria Areas: Oil and Natural Gas
Production Potential
Analyses by Advance Resources International, Arlington, VA, for the
U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Fossil Energy
The Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) is a substantial source of oil and natural gas for the Nation’s energy supply accounting for about 27% of U.S. oil production and 14% of U.S. natural gas production in 2007. For many decades however substantial oil and natural gas resources in OCS areas in the Atlantic, Eastern Gulf of Mexico, Pacific, and offshore Alaska were inaccessible to leasing and development due to Presidential and Congressional moratoria.
Changes in the nation's energy situation resulted in Presidential moratoria being lifted in 2007 and 2008, and with certain exceptions, Congressional bans being allowed to expire in 2008. In July 2008, the Department of the Interior Minerals Management Service (MMS) initiated a public effort to update its five-year OCS oil and natural gas leasing program.
Estimates developed in 2006 for the Department of Energy's Office of Fossil Energy showed that the potential energy and economic benefits of increased access to oil and gas resources in OCS moratoria areas could be substantial. In 2009, this assessment was updated to reflect new energy prices and to show how various assumptions such as the volume of yet-to-be-discovered resources and pace of development may influence the level of future production.
The 2009 assessment shows incremental U.S. oil production from the areas previously under leasing moratoria in 2008 could range as high as 1.60 million barrels of oil per day in 2025 for the eight different cases considered. And incremental U.S. natural gas production from these areas could range as high as 2.3 trillion cubic feet per year by 2025 for the eight cases considered.
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