U.S. Energy Information Administration - EIA - Independent Statistics and Analysis

Press Room

U.S. ENERGY INFORMATION ADMINISTRATION
WASHINGTON DC 20585

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 13, 2019

The United States set new records for proved reserves of oil and natural gas, as well as for production in 2018

Year-over-year increases in U.S. proved reserves resulted in record-high levels of crude oil and lease condensate, up 12%, and natural gas up 9% in 2018, according to the U.S. Crude Oil and Natural Gas Proved Reserves, Year-End 2018 report. The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) published its annual reserves report today, based on data reported on the survey Form EIA-23L, Annual Report of Domestic Oil and Gas Reserves, which highlighted the new records for reserves.

	Crude oil billion barrels	Crude oil and lease condensate billion barrels	Natural gas trillion cubic feet
2017 U.S. proved reserves	39.2	42.0	464.3
Net change to U.S. proved reserves	+4.7	+5.1	+40.2
2018 U.S. proved reserves	43.8	47.1	504.5
Percentage change	+11.9%	+12.1%	+8.7%

Strong oil and natural gas prices in 2018 drove the increase in oil and natural gas proved reserves in the United States to these record levels.

“The United States increased its proved reserves of oil and natural gas, establishing new records in 2018 according to a recently released EIA report,” EIA Administrator Linda Capuano said in a statement. “Crude oil and lease condensate increased by 12% from 2017, and natural gas climbed 9% during the same reporting period.”

Texas saw the largest net increase in natural gas proved reserves of all states in 2018 (22.9 trillion cubic feet (Tcf)) with the largest share of the increase coming from the Wolfcamp/Bone Spring shale play in the Permian Basin. The next largest gain in natural gas proved reserves in 2018 was in Pennsylvania (14.2 Tcf), with the largest share of the increase coming from the Marcellus shale play of the Appalachian Basin.

Proved reserves are those volumes of oil and natural gas that geological and engineering data demonstrate with reasonable certainty to be recoverable in future years from known reservoirs under existing economic and operating conditions. U.S. Crude Oil and Natural Gas Proved Reserves, Year-end 2018 is available at:
https://www.eia.gov/naturalgas/crudeoilnaturalgasreserves

The product described in this press release was prepared by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), the statistical and analytical agency within the U.S. Department of Energy. By law, EIA’s data, analysis, and forecasts are independent of approval by any other officer or employee of the United States Government. The views in the product and press release therefore should not be construed as representing those of the Department of Energy or other federal agencies.

EIA Program Contact: Steven G. Grape, 202-586-1868, steven.grape@eia.gov

For media inquiries contact: EIAMedia@eia.gov

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