DEMING – A new report from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) places New Mexico second in the nation for both undiscovered oil and natural gas resources located beneath federally managed public lands.
The study estimates New Mexico holds 8.9 billion barrels of technically recoverable oil and 85.4 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, trailing only Texas. If fully developed, the oil reserves could supply the entire country’s needs for more than a year, while the natural gas would last approximately two and a half years at current consumption rates.
The report reflects a major increase in projected resources since the last assessment in 1998, when the USGS estimated just 7.86 billion barrels of oil and 201.1 trillion cubic feet of gas nationwide. The revised estimates account for technological advances such as horizontal drilling and fracking, which now allow for the extraction of unconventional resources like shale oil and coal-bed gas.
The federal lands reviewed in the study include those overseen by the U.S. Departments of Agriculture, Defense, Energy, and Interior, as well as the Tennessee Valley Authority. The USGS assessments, which began 50 years ago in response to an oil embargo, are used by policy makers, land managers, and industry leaders to guide energy planning and development.
Nationwide, the USGS estimates there are 29.4 billion barrels of oil and 391.6 trillion cubic feet of natural gas yet to be discovered on U.S. federal lands.
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