America’s Combined Supply of Recoverable Natural Gas, Oil, and Coal is the Largest on Earth

By Senator Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.)
Ranking Member, Senate Environment and Public Works Committee

A new government report released just last month from the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service (CRS) reveals that America’s combined supply of recoverable natural gas, oil, and coal is the largest on earth. In fact, the CRS report shows that America’s recoverable resources are far larger than those of Saudi Arabia (3rd), China (4th), and Canada (6th) combined.  And that’s without including America’s immense oil shale and methane hydrates deposits.  These astonishing statistics show that an all-of-the-above energy policy is the right course for America.  Through greater domestic production, we can create jobs, strengthen our energy security, and provide affordable, reliable energy for consumers and businesses.  

According to CRS, US government estimates show that America possesses 167 billion barrels of recoverable oil – nearly eight times the number most often cited by Democrats.  Remarkably, 167 billion is the equivalent of replacing America's current imports from OPEC for more than 75 years.   

Further, CRS notes the 2009 assessment from the Potential Gas Committee, which estimates that America has 2,047 trillion cubic feet (TCF) of natural gas – an increase of more than 35 percent just since the Committee’s 2006 estimate.  At today's rate of use, this is enough natural gas to meet American demand for nearly 90 years.   

The report also reveals that America is number one in coal reserves, with more than 28 percent of the world’s coal.  In fact, CRS cites America’s recoverable coal reserves to be 262 billion short tons. For perspective, the US consumes just 1.2 billion short tons of coal per year.   And though portions of this resource may not be accessible and economically recoverable today, these estimates could still prove to be conservative.  As CRS states:  “…U.S. coal resource estimates do not include some potentially massive deposits of coal that exist in northwestern Alaska.  These currently inaccessible coal deposits have been estimated to be more than 3,200 billion short tons of coal.”  

Along with natural gas and coal, oil shale has great potential in the US.  While several pilot projects are currently underway to prove oil shale’s future commercial viability, the Green River Formation located within Colorado, Wyoming, and Utah contains the equivalent of 6 trillion barrels of oil—the Department of Energy Office of Naval Petroleum and Oil Shale estimates that, of this 6 trillion, approximately 1.38 trillion barrels are potentially recoverable.  That equals more than five times the oil reserves of Saudi Arabia.   

Another domestic energy resource that could lessen America’s dependence on foreign energy is methane hydrates.  Although still years away from commercial feasibility, methane hydrates, according to the Department of Energy, possess energy content that is “immense … possibly exceeding the combined energy content of all other known fossil fuels.”  While estimates vary significantly, the United States Geological Service (USGS) recently testified that “the mean in-place gas hydrate resource for the entire United States is estimated to be 320,000 TCF of gas.”  If just 3% of this resource can be commercialized in the years ahead, at current rates of consumption, that level of supply would be enough to provide America’s natural gas for more than 400 years.  

Unfortunately, despite our vast supply of domestic energy resources, the Democratic majority in Washington is actively working to keep these resources off limits. They stand with those who believe the answer to solving our nation's energy crisis is to raise taxes, regulate more, and drastically increase the size of the federal bureaucracy.   

For example, President Obama’s budget proposed a massive $31 billion tax increase on the oil and gas industry, a tax that undoubtedly would be paid by consumers, while claiming that the current tax code “encourage[s] the overproduction of oil and natural gas” in the United States.  The $787 billion so-called stimulus bill contained no provisions to spur production of America’s natural gas, oil, or coal.  Also, the President’s Interior Department is aggressively blocking and delaying production of America’s energy resources.  It is holding back the five-year plan for offshore production, and recently withdrew 77 federal oil and gas leases in Utah.  On top of this, the Obama Administration has postponed the next round of leasing for oil shale development. Finally, last month, Congress passed legislation to impose a 62% increase in the application fee for companies to drill on federal land.  

Our overwhelming wealth of coal, natural gas, and oil resources represent tens of trillions of dollars in economic growth and security, and millions of American jobs.  Through decree or purposeful inaction, government policies that unnecessarily restrict or prevent our ability to responsibly produce these domestic resources are weakening our nation's economic and national security.  We need an all-of-the-above strategy that advances new energy technologies but also prioritizes developing the resources we have today.