Lower crude and natural gas prices reversed in 2019 a two-year record trend of proven reserves in the United States as operators revised their total estimates of proven reserves, the Energy Information Administration said Friday (EIA).
The EIA’s annual report showed that proven crude oil and condensate lease reserves remained basically the same in 2019 as in 2018, with a slight increase of 0.1 percent. Demonstrated natural gas reserves, on the other hand, fell 1.9 percent, according to EIA data in late 2019.
In that year, crude oil prices were generally lower than oil in 2018, with the U.S. reference price, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil, averaging $ 57 a barrel, a drop of 7 dollars a barrel compared to 2018.
“Lower crude oil prices in 2019 caused many operators to revise down the estimates of total tested reserves, although reserves tested for extensions and discoveries increased slightly,” the EIA said.
For comparison, higher oil and natural gas prices in 2018 raised proven U.S. oil and gas reserves to new all-time highs. Demonstrated oil and gas reserves surpassed the previous year’s record, when rising prices and the continued development of slate resources in 2017 helped boost U.S. reserves to what was then a high volume. In 2018, the United States showed that crude oil reserves increased by 12%.
In 2019, the U.S.’s proven oil reserves, at 47.1 billion barrels, remain at the record level set in 2018, the EIA said in its report. Alaska producers added 259 million barrels of proven crude oil and condensate lease reserves in 2019, the largest net increase in all states.
In natural gas reserves, proven reserves recorded in 2019 the first annual decline in the United States since 2015, with Texas recording the largest decline with falls in large shale gas areas such as Eagle Ford, Barnett and Bossier.
Still, U.S. total gas reserves remain at the second highest level in history, the EIA said.
By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com
More highlights from Oilprice.com: