Hodel Says U.S. Won’t Give Up on Offshore Oil

The United States has suffered disappointments in its offshore energy exploration program but will not give up despite new estimates that less oil and gas is available than previously thought, Interior Secretary Donald P. Hodel said today.

“It seems to me that the new estimates make it even more important . . . for the nation to explore the offshore to find out exactly what we do have,” Hodel told a news conference.

“Each time a well is drilled . . . we add an increment to our ability to anticipate and plan for the future,” he said.

“If it turns out that the oil and gas America will need in the 21st Century is not out there, then we need to know that too, and the sooner the better, so America can turn its attention to alternative energy resources.”

Half as Plentiful

He referred to Interior Department estimates that recoverable oil and natural gas may be only about half as plentiful as earlier projections indicated.

“We have had some disappointments in exploration in the Atlantic and Alaska (Outer Continental Shelf),” Hodel acknowledged.

But he added that he is “not ready to give up on the rest of the outer shelf program for a number of reasons.”

He noted that offshore drilling produces about 12% of domestic oil and 25% of natural gas and said there is “promising” acreage in the Pacific and frontier areas.

Don’t Know for Certain

“Until wells are drilled, we do not know for certain where oil is and where it isn’t,” Hodel said. “Some of the biggest oil finds in the world have been located by the maverick oil driller who refused to quit where others have failed.”

Hodel’s statements coincided with his announcement of a review of a planned sale of energy exploration rights off the Mid-Atlantic coast late this year to determine whether the sale should be canceled.