DOE-Funded Research Opens Way to 218 Billion Barrels of By-Passed Domestic Oil

A joint venture in technology development between researchers at Texas A&M University and the Department of Energy has produced a new computer tool that will increase recovery of up to 218 billion barrels of by-passed oil remaining in mature domestic fields. The nation’s current proven reserve is 21 billion barrels.

More than two-thirds of all the oil discovered in America to date remains in the ground and is economically unrecoverable with current technology. About 218 billion barrels of it, a volume approaching the proven reserves of Saudi Arabia, lies at depths of less than 5,000 feet. This by-passed oil represents a huge target for the roughly 7,000 independent producers active in the thousands of mature U.S. fields which cumulatively account for a significant share of the country’s crude oil supply.

DOE