US Geological Survey Discovers in Texas Largest Ever Domestic Oil, Gas Resources

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - The US Geological Survey assessed that the Bone Spring Formation in Texas and Wolfcamp Shale in New Mexico contain the largest oil and natural gas potential ever found, the Department of the Interior said in a press release on Thursday.

"[T]he Wolfcamp Shale and overlying Bone Spring Formation in the Delaware Basin portion of Texas and New Mexico’s Permian Basin province contain an estimated mean of 46.3 billion barrels of oil, 281 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, and 20 billion barrels of natural gas liquids," the release said.

Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke celebrated the assessment by saying that the United States has a lot of energy and the country's dominance in the energy sector is now proven.

The Wolfcamp shale in the Midland Basin portion of the Texas Permian Basin province has been examined by the US Geological Survey in 2016.

The organization concluded then that the formation contained an estimated mean of 20 billion barrels of oil, 16 trillion cubic feet of associated natural gas and 1.6 billion barrels of natural gas liquids.

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The US Geological Survey’s new assessment said that the resources in the two formations are twice larger than those in the Midland Basin. The Interior Department credited the use of modern technologies, such as hydraulic fracturing and directional drilling, for being able to effectuate a greater energy potential.