U.S. Oil, Natural Gas Reserves Increase

U.S. proven crude oil reserves at the end of 1997 increased for the first time in a decade, while natural gas reserves were up for the fourth year in a row. According to the federal Energy Information Administration’s annual report on energy reserves, proven crude oil reserves totaled 22.546 billion barrels, up 2.4% from the year before. Natural gas reserves reached 167.223 trillion cubic feet, up 0.4% from 1996. Proven reserves are those quantities that geological and engineering data demonstrate can be easily recoverable in future years from known reservoirs. Half the increase in oil reserves was because of large revisions in the amount of recoverable crude in California fields as a result of better drilling technology. The state’s oil reserves totaled 3.75 billion barrels at the end of last year, up 313 million barrels from the year before.