Proved oil and natural gas reserves hits record level in 2018

Proved reserves of crude oil rose to 47.1 billion barrels in 2018 — a 12 percent increase over 2017, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s U.S. Crude Oil and Natural Gas Proved Reserves, Year-End 2018 report.

The year-end total set a record, beating the 42 billion barrels mark set in 2017. Proved reserves are those that authorities are reasonably certain are recoverable in future years.

A favorable price environment with relatively higher oil and natural gas prices drove the proved reserves to record levels in 2018. Higher fuel prices typically increase the proved reserves because a larger portion of the oil or natural gas resource base can be economically producible. In 2018, the annual average price for West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil rose 29 percent to $65.66/b in 2018. The annual average natural gas price at the Henry Hub national benchmark in Louisiana rose 12 percent to $3.35 per MMBtu in 2018.

U.S. crude production increased 17 percent year-over-year to an average of 10.96 million barrels per day.

Texas saw the largest net increase in oil and natural gas proved reserves in 2018, totaling 2.3 billion barrels of crude oil and 22.9 Tcf of natural gas proved reserves. The next-largest net gains in natural gas proved reserves were in Pennsylvania and New Mexico. Specifically, Pennsylvania’s natural gas proved reserves increased by 14.2 Tcf and New Mexico’s increased by 4.2 Tcf in 2018.