U.S. energy policy

Many of the best opportunities for developing additional domestic oil and gas supplies have been placed "off limits" by government policies, although the longstanding ban on Outer Continental Shelf oil and gas leasing was recently lifted by Congress.

• According to the American Petroleum Institute (API), all federal lands, including those on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS), hold an estimated 116 billion barrels of recoverable conventional oil and 650 trillion cubic feet of recoverable natural gas — enough to produce gasoline for 65 million cars for 60 years and meet the natural gas needs of 60 million households for 160 years.
• Until recently, 85 percent of the OCS off the lower-48 states was placed off-limits to development. The U.S. Minerals Management Service estimates that these areas contain an estimated 18 billion barrels of conventional oil and 76.5 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.
• Federal lands onshore that are unavailable for development hold an estimated 19 billion barrels of conventional oil and 94.5 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, according to the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM).
• Unconventional sources of oil — such as oil shale and tar sands — may hold even more potential resources. According to the BLM, more than 70 percent of American oil shale lies on federal land, primarily in Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming. These federal lands contain an estimated 1.23 trillion barrels of oil — more than 50 times the nation's proven conventional oil reserves. More than 50 tar sands deposits are found in eastern Utah, containing an estimated 12 to 19 billion barrels of oil. Industry is working with the Federal government to ensure that future development of Federal oil shale and tar sands resources are economically sustainable and environmentally responsible.