U.S. proved reserves of natural gas increased 5% in 2016, compared with a 17% decline in 2015
The United States had 341.1 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) of natural gas proved reserves as of December 31, 2016, according to U.S. Crude Oil and Natural Gas Proved Reserves, Year-end 2016, released by the EIA.
U.S. crude oil and lease condensate proved reserves remained at 35.2 billion barrels at year-end 2016.
| Crude oil and lease condensate billion barrels |
Natural gas trillion cubic feet |
|
| 2015 U.S. proved reserves | 35.23 | 324.30 |
| Net change to U.S. proved reserves | -0.02 | +6.83 |
| 2016 U.S. proved reserves | 35.21 | 341.11 |
| Percentage change | 0.0% | +5.2% |
Pennsylvania reserves increase even more
Pennsylvania had the largest net increase in natural gas proved reserves of all states in 2016, adding 6.1 Tcf of natural gas proved reserves in the Marcellus Shale play in the Appalachian Basin. The share of natural gas proved reserves from shale compared with total natural gas increased from 54% in 2015 to 62% in 2016.
Permian Basin added 941 MMBO in reserves
Texas had the largest net increase in proved reserves of crude oil and lease condensate of all states in 2016, adding 941 million barrels of proved crude oil and lease condensate reserves, mostly from development in the Permian Basin, where operators drilled and completed long horizontal wells into the stacked oil-bearing formations including the Spraberry and Wolfcamp shale.
For the prior year—2016—U.S. production of crude oil and lease condensate decreased by 6% from 2015, and U.S. production of total natural gas decreased by 1%, the EIA reported.
EIA Economist Jeff Barron is speaking at EnerCom Dallas Feb. 22, 2018
Economist Jeffrey Barron will deliver the luncheon keynote at the EnerCom Dallas oil and gas investment conference on Thursday Feb. 22, 2018, at the Tower Club in downtown Dallas.
Barron is an industry economist at the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s Office of Energy Markets and Financial Analysis. Barron will discuss commodities, the state of the global supply/demand balance, EIA’s U.S. crude oil forecasts, futures prices and related topics. Registration is open on the EnerCom Dallas conference website.
