geologic framework,

• Evaluates the environmental and economic effects of production and use of

fossil fuels, and

• Delivers energy resource information to

the land and resource management

bureaus of the U.S. Department of the

Interior, other Federal agencies, State

geological surveys, the energy industry,

and the environmental community.

U.S. Oil and Gas Resources

The 1995 USGS National Oil and Gas

Assessment Team (Gautier and others,

1996) concluded that our Nation’s future

energy supply will come from known U.S.

oil and gas fields, from newly discovered

natural gas deposits, and from imported

petroleum. The 1990 Clean Air Act

Amendments and concern about greenhouse gas emissions to the atmosphere

have introduced a sense of urgency to

identify the Nation’s remaining deposits of

clean-burning natural gas.

The USGS has begun an update of

the 1995 national assessment that focuses

United States. Research started in fiscal

year (FY) 2000 and continuing through

FY 2004 focuses on evaluating U.S.

provinces (fig. 1) that have the best potential for production of natural gas and on

improving the accuracy of natural gas

resource assessments.

Alaska.—The North Slope of Alaska

has the greatest remaining oil potential of

any onshore area in the United States (fig.

2). The USGS is collaborating with the

Alaska Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys to conduct an intensive

examination of the North Slope’s petroleum potential; current research focuses on

oil and gas resources of the National Petroleum Reserve–Alaska (NPRA) and the

Yukon Flats area.

Large volumes of methane gas are

stored below the permafrost of the North

Slope in icelike structures known as gas

hydrates. The USGS is assessing the

recoverability, resource potential, environmental effects, and production characteristics of these gas hydrates; the USGS work

is conducted in partnership with the U.S.

overcome, in the long term, gas hydra

may be a major source of clean-burnin

methane for the Nation.

Gulf of Mexico Coast Region.—

Alaska, the Gulf Coast region has a h

potential for new oil and gas producti

The USGS is conducting basic frame

studies that are needed to identify and

characterize the petroleum systems of 

region in preparation for an assessme

undiscovered oil and gas resources. T

studies focus on unconventional petro

resources of the Austin Chalk, the dee

gas in the Tuscaloosa Formation, and

methane from the extensive coals and 

nites of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi

Alabama.

U.S. Coal Resources

More than half of the electricity p

duced in the United States today is ge

ed by coal-fired powerplants. The USG

National Coal Resource Assessment (NC

is a multiyear effort to (1) assess coal 

and zones that will be the most impor

for supply in the next few decades (fi

U.S. Department of the Interior

U.S. Geological Survey

USGS Fact Sheet FS–

Marc
The USGS assessed the 76 most pro

ductive oil and gas provinces of the world,

which contain about 95 percent of the

remaining oil and gas resources (USGS

World Energy Assessment Team, 2000).

This assessment is the first of its kind to

include a rigorous geologic foundation for

remaining resource volumes, and it is the

first to make those data available to the geoscience, business, and research communities. The U.S. Departments of Energy,

Defense, and State; U.S. Agency for International Development; Energy Information

Administration; International Energy

Agency; the intelligence community; and

over two dozen industry partners assisted in

this effort. 

Environmental Issues

The USGS Energy Resources Program

studies the environmental effects of extracting and using fossil fuels. Coal environmental research focuses on the natural variability of coal quality and the environmental and human-health impacts of mining

and using coal as an energy source. Areas

of concern include sulfuric acid leached

into surface and ground water from sulfur

help policymakers evaluate the environmental impacts of global coal use.

EXPLANATION

Appal

Basin

Illinois Basin

Colorado Plateau

Gulf Coast

Assessed areas

Unassessed areas

Northern Rocky Mountains

and Great Plains

Figure 3. Five priority regions of the USGS National Coal Resource Assessment and unas

coal-bearing areas of the conterminous United States.