When the U.S. Department of the Interior released its 1989 estimates of how much undiscovered oil and gas remain in the United States, a controversy ensued. Some members of the petroleum industry charged that the estimates were too low. This book evaluates the scientific credibility of the statistical and geological methods underlying the estimates.

Table of Contents


Front Matter
Executive Summary
1 Introduction: Questions about the Department of the Interior
2 Limitations of Resource Assessments
3 An Evaluation of the Department of the Interior
4 Recommendations
Appendixes
A Evaluation of the Hydrocarbon Resource Estimates for the Offshore Areas of Northern and Southern California and Florida South of 26° Latitude
B Adequacy of the Data Base for Hydrocarbon Estimates of the Georges Bank Area of the North Atlantic Outer Continental Shelf
C The Effects of Play Mixing in the Permian Basin
D Background: Components of the Petroleum Resource Base