The actual amount of recoverable reserves in the offshore frontier 

 areas is unknown, since no actual drilling has taken place at these 

 sites. The varying estimates, as shown above, have been based solely on 

 the interpretation of general geological data. In recent years the 

 estimates have been consistently revised downward. The 1975 USGS 

 estimate indicated that the total undiscovered recoverable OCS oil may 

 be 10 to 49 billion barrels instead of the 65 to 130 billion barrels 

 estimated in 1974 or the 200 to 400 billion barrels previously estimated 

 [7]. 



To determine the rank order of the U.S. offshore areas, the 

 Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Manaqement (BLM) solicited 

 information from all concerned parties [13J. Twenty five U.S. oil 

 companies responded to the BLM request, identifying 17 major offshore 

 areas and ranking them based on their view of resource potential 

 and their order of preference. The 17 areas are listed below in rank 

 order, with area number (see Figure 5) and projected year of leasing in 

 parenthesis: 



1) Central Gulf of Mexico (7:1976) 



2) Gulf of Alaska (Southern Alaska) (17:1976) 



3) West Gulf of Mexico (Western Province) (8:1976) 



4) Southern California (9:1975) 



5) Mid Atlantic (Baltimore Canyon Trough) (2:1976) 



6) -East Gulf of Mexico (Eastern Province) (6:1977) 



7) North Atlantic (Georges Bank Trough) (1:1977) 



8) Bristol Bay (21: not scheduled) 



9) Beaufort Sea (28:1978 and 1979) 



10) Santa Barbara (part of Central -Northern California) (10:1978) 



11) Cook Inlet (Southern Alaska) (20:1977 and 1980) 



12) Bering Sea (21-26: not on schedule) 



13) South Atlantic (Southeast Georgia Embayment and Blake 



Plateau) (4-5:1977, 1978 and 1979) 



14) Chukchi Sea (27:1979) 



15) Southern Aleutian Shelf (19:not on schedule) 



16) Central -Northern California (11-14:1978 and 1980) 



17) Oregon-Washington (15-16:1978 and 1980) 



1.2.5 Offshore Production Goals and Potentials 



In 1974, the President announced plans to accelerate oil and gas 

 leasing on the Federal Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) on a large scale as 

 a key part of "Project Independence". Seven million acres were offered 

 for sale in 1975 and 1.7 million acres actually leased. Sales have been 

 held for the Southern California, Gulf of Mexico and Mid Atlantic leasing 

 areas. According to the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) , Department of 

 the Interior, the goal now is to hold six sales per year (for about 3 

 million acres per year) through 1980 [7]. The latest OCS planning schedule 

 (January 1977) is shown in Table 5. 



23 



