How much potential oil is still available in the United States teritory that we are not using?

Question

Just curious.

Answer 1

There are large amounts of oil in south central United States. Much of this oil is off shores. This is why when hurricanes come through the gulf coast, such as Katrina did last fall, there is a large spike in gas prices since there are many off shore oil platforms in this location. Texas has more than 4.9 Billion barrels of oil (at today's price of around $75/barrel that is 367.5 billion dollars.) and this accounts for about 25% of United States reserves.

Answer 2

About 21,371 of proved reserves remain under ground and under sea in and near the USA under conventional norms of measurement. However there is also oil that cannot be recovered under present technology and oil that has not yet been found.

The Energy Information Administration publishes data including, I think, what you are seeking: non-producing known reserves. As of 2004 this was 5,143 billion barrels. (See third reference below.) Some of this is not being produced because of environmental concerns and some because it is just too expensive to reach. Bear in mind that "environmental concerns" are not limited to worries over the survival of rare species or the preservation of beauty spots. They include the implicit cost of making good damage in the case of accidents and spills, calculated on an actuarial (insurance) basis. (Think of the Exxon Valdez spill: the financial and social cost needs to be factored into the benefits of Alaska North Slope production. Insurance companies certainly do that when they fix their premiums.)

There is also a figure for "ultimately recoverable reserves" that involves guesswork. It assumes that new technologies will be developed that will enable producers to inject chemicals, or to build up pressure, that will release oil from whatever formation (rock, etc.) it is now located in.

There are means for extending the oil that is produced (by adding biologically-produced substitutes like alcohol) and for producing oil from such things as tar sands and shale. Some of these may now be (perhaps marginally) profitable to do, although the inputs of water and energy to get them are substantial.

Answer 3

Not a lot really. Our best bet at this point are the oil shale deposits at the Green River Formation. See link below.

Answer 4

There's plenty in the Colorada oil shale deposits.

Answer 5

If we were concerned about it, we wouldn't need to know. Ironic, aint' it?

Answer 6

More than we could burn in 500 years...Silly isn't it ?

Answer 7

more than enough.