USGS Reserve Estimates Still Grossly Undervalue Total Resource Worth
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) recently released new estimates showing that 32 billion barrels of oil and 291 trillion cubic feet of natural gas could be added to our current proven reserves from existing reservoirs. The USGS calls this “reserve growth” and describes it as “estimated volumes of technically recoverable, conventional oil and gas resources that have the potential to be added to current reserves.”[ia] If you think that resource description is a “mouthful”, you are right. It is good news that USGS estimates these increases, but these estimates are only for existing reservoirs and is therefore a very small subset of our recoverable oil and gas resources.