‘Significant’ Undiscovered Resources in GC Haynesville

In a statement sent to Rigzone late Wednesday, U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Director Ned Mamula said there are “significant” undiscovered resources in the Gulf Coast’s Haynesville Formation.

“The U.S. economy and our way of life depend on energy, and USGS oil and gas assessments point to resources that industry hasn’t discovered yet,” Mamula noted in the statement.

“In this case, we have assessed there are significant undiscovered resources in the Haynesville Formation of the Gulf Coast,” he added.  

A fact sheet posted on the USGS website on Wednesday stated that, “using a geology-based assessment methodology”, the USGS “estimated undiscovered, technically recoverable mean resources of 152 million barrels of oil and 47.9 trillion cubic feet of gas in reservoirs of the Haynesville Formation within the onshore United States and State waters of the Gulf Coast Basin”.

In the statement sent to Rigzone, the USGS highlighted that, since the 1921 discovery of oil sands near Haynesville, Louisiana, the formation has produced 49.1 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. That’s as much gas as the U.S. uses in 18 months at the current rate of consumption, according to the statement.

“The onshore Gulf Coast is a major energy production area thanks to a world-class petroleum system and extensive exploration and production infrastructure,” the USGS said in the statement.

“This assessment is limited to the Haynesville Formation, which comprises a significant portion of the onshore Gulf Coast’s resources. More than 11,000 wells have targeted the formation, of which thousands were drilled since the last USGS assessment in 2017, requiring a new look at undiscovered resources,” it added.

“While the assessment area stretches from the Texas-Mexico border along the Gulf of America coast to the Florida panhandle, resources are concentrated on the Texas-Louisiana border,” it continued.

The USGS pointed out in its statement that Western Haynesville, which it said is an energy industry term for shale gas development on the western side of the East Texas Basin, is not included in its latest assessment but added that it will be included in a forthcoming USGS assessment of undiscovered oil and gas resources in the Bossier Formation. 

The organization also highlighted in its statement that, back in May, it released an assessment of undiscovered oil and gas in the Hosston and Travis Peak formations above the Haynesville. 

In a statement posted on the USGS site on May 7, the organization said it released its “assessment of potential for undiscovered oil and gas in two formations under much of the Gulf of America Coast from Texas to Florida, assessing that there are technically recoverable resources of 35.8 trillion cubic feet of gas and 28 million barrels of oil”. 

The USGS noted in its latest statement that USGS oil and gas assessments began more than 50 years ago “following an oil embargo against the U.S. that signaled a need to understand the occurrence, distribution, and potential volumes of undiscovered resources”. 

“The embargo led to a mandate for the USGS to use geologic science and data to assess undiscovered oil and gas resources to help meet the nation’s needs,” the USGS added, noting that “the work continues today – identifying new resources for domestic production as well as international resources that affect market conditions”.

In its statement the USGS highlights that its energy resource assessments provide information to policy makers on resource potential in areas of the U.S. and the world. It notes that the range of assessments produced has changed with the technology available to produce oil, adding that, in 1995, the USGS began conducting assessments of unconventional, technically recoverable resources. 

“The shift to horizontal drilling with fracking has revolutionized oil and gas production, and we’ve changed with it,” Christopher Schenk, USGS geologist, said in the statement. 

In a statement posted on its website in June, the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) announced that it had released a USGS report on undiscovered oil and gas resources in formations under the federally managed public lands of the United States, “estimating that there are technically recoverable resources of 29.4 billion barrels of oil and 391.6 trillion cubic feet of gas”. 

“If produced, that would be enough oil to supply all of the nation’s needs for four years at the current rate of consumption, and enough natural gas to meet the nation’s needs for nearly 12 years,” the DOI said in that statement.

In a statement posted on its site on May 21, the DOI announced the release of a USGS assessment “identifying significant undiscovered, technically recoverable oil and gas resources in the Mowry Composite Total Petroleum System”.

“Spanning parts of Wyoming, Colorado and Utah, the assessment estimates the presence of 473 million barrels of oil and 27 trillion cubic feet of natural gas – resources that could help bolster domestic energy supply and fuel local economies,” that statement noted.

The USGS is part of the DOI. According to its website, the USGS “monitor[s], assess[es], map[s], and conduct[s] targeted scientific research so that policy makers and the public have the understanding they need to address complex environmental, natural resource, and public safety issues”.

The DOI site states that the DOI “protects and manages the Nation’s natural resources and cultural heritage; provides scientific and other information about those resources; and honors its trust responsibilities or special commitments to American Indians, Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians, and affiliated Island Communities”.

To contact the author, email andreas.exarheas@rigzone.com