370 



The subcommittee expressed an interest in how resource estimates for 

 Georges Bank oil and gas were compiled and incorporated in the policy 

 making process. Resource estimates are normally incorporated in the 

 presale policy making process at two points, the draft environmental 

 impact statement (EIS) and the Secretarial Issue Document (SID). This 

 allows the presale analysis to proceed incorporating the most current 

 Information available. Provisions are available to incorporate at any 

 time significant changes to these estimates further allowing 

 decisionmakers access to the most current information. 



The first resource estimates for the proposed Sale No. 52 area were 

 developed in October 1980 for use in preparing the EIS analysis 

 addressing the costs and benefits associated with the proposed sale and 

 alternatives to the proposal. These resource estimates were deployed on 

 the conditional assumption that a commercial hydrocarbon accumulation 

 existed in the proposed area. The conditional resource estimates ranged 

 ranged from 17 million to 6.35 billion barrels of oil and from 196 billion 



-9- 



