Oil & Gas Energy Program

The OCS is a significant source of oil and gas for the Nation’s energy supply. The approximately 43 million leased OCS acres account for about 15 percent of America’s domestic natural gas production and about 27 percent of America’s domestic oil production. BOEM manages the nation's offshore resources to ensure that production and drilling are done in an environmentally and economically responsible manner.

The offshore areas of the United States are estimated to contain significant quantities of resources in yet-to-be-discovered fields. The Bureau estimates of oil and gas resources in undiscovered fields on the OCS (2006, mean estimates) total 86 billion barrels of oil and 420 trillion cubic feet of gas. These volumes represent about 60 percent of the oil and 40 percent of the natural gas resources estimated to be contained in remaining undiscovered fields in the United States.