USGS Energy Resources Program
The three goals of the USGS Energy Resources Program are to:
- Conduct National and global energy resource assessments
- Perform basic and applied research on geologic energy resources and on the environmental and economic impact of their extraction and use, and
- Provide energy resource information and expertise to land and resource managers and energy policy makers
A map of the United States showing the USGS National Oil and Gas Assessment priority areas highlighted in yellow.
The USGS is updating the 1995 USGS National Oil and Gas Assessment focusing on the Nation’s natural gas resources and the potential of addition to reserves of oil and gas from existing fields in the United States. Research started in FY 2000 focuses on areas that have the greatest potential for natural gas (shown in yellow on the map) and on improving the accuracy of continuous gas resource estimates.
As part of the Energy Policy and Conservation Act (EPCA) Reauthorization of 2000 study, the USGS, BLM, USFS, DOE and the DOE's Energy Information Administration (EIA) are working together to produce a scientific inventory of the oil and gas resources and reserves underlying onshore Federal lands and to identify the extent and nature of any restrictions or impediments to their development. Five basins within the Rocky Mountain Region have been identified as the geographic areas for study: the Powder River, Green River, Uinta/Piceance, and San Juan/Paradox Basins, and the Montana Thrust Belt. The BLM is supplying Federal land status and oil and gas lease stipulation information from existing Resource Management Plans. The USGS is contributing the undiscovered oil and gas resource data and is working to update these data in support of the EPCA inventory. A report of the study will be submitted to Congress by November 2002.
A map of the Continental United States showing National Coal Resource Assessment areas.
The USGS National Coal Resource Assessment is a multiyear effort to digitally assess selected coal beds and zones that will be the most important for supply in the next few decades; create publicly available digital data bases of stratigraphic, geochemical, and geographic information system (GIS) databases; and provide interpretive geologic and geochemical information on the major coal resources of the Nation.
