North Dakota has more oil lying underneath it than the federal Gulf of Mexico, according to new data from the Energy Department’s statistics arm.
Overall, total United States proved reserves in 2013 hit 36.5 billion barrels of oil and condensate, a light oil, accounting for a 9.3 percent bump over the previous year. It’s the first time U.S. reserves have topped 36 billion barrels since 1975.
Natural gas reserves also rose to a new record of 354 trillion cubic feet on the heels of a 9.7 percent increase over the previous year. Pennsylvania and West Virginia contributed 70 percent of that increase.
The 1.9 billion barrels of proved oil reserves added to North Dakota’s reserves accounted for 61 percent of the total U.S. increase. That gives North Dakota the second-largest proved oil reserves — referring to hydrocarbons that could be extracted economically — in the country, trailing only Texas.
The Energy Information Administration said that North Dakota’s shale energy regions, which have steered the U.S. domestic energy boom through hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, have continued to attract development. That helped reestablish the Bakken and Three Forks region that spans North Dakota and Montana as the country’s largest shale energy-producing region.
While North Dakota contributed the bulk of the 3.1 billion barrel increase, Texas chipped in the second-most with 900 million barrels
