US proven oil reserves were as of 2018. The 2018 data is higher than the of proven reserves in 1970, when the supergiant Prudhoe Bay field was found in Alaska.
Production
United States crude oil production declined since reaching a smaller secondary production peak in 1988, but increased again from 2009 to 2015. Total production of crude oil from 1970 through 2006 was, or roughly five and a half times the decline in proved reserves. Since the oil price peaked about US$147.50 in summer 2008 many projects have been brought online, and domestic production increased from 2009 to 2015. In 2012 the oil production of the USA increased by 800,000 barrels, the highest ever recorded increase in one year since oil drilling began in 1859. The US had recently increased its oil drilling location as it has passed Saudi Arabia and Russia Oil-bearing shales in North Dakota and Montana are producing increasing amounts of oil. As of April 2013, US crude production was at a more than 20-year high, since the shale gas and tight oil boom; production was near 7.2 million barrels per day. Experts think that the USA could pass Saudi Arabia as the largest oil producer. Peak production was 10,044 barrels per day in November 1970. A second, but lower peak of 9,627 barrels per day was achieved in April 2015. The reserves-to-production ratio equaled 11.26 years in 2007. The ratio was 11.08 years in 1970. It hit a trough of 8.49 years in 1986 as oil pumped through the Alaska pipeline began to peak.
Consumption and imports
The US consumption of petroleum products peaked in 2005; by 2012, consumption had declined 11% from the peak. Net imports of oil and products account for nearly half of the US trade deficit. Because of declining production and increasing demand, net US imports of oil and petroleum products increased from in 1970 to in 2007, before declining. Its largest net suppliers of petroleum products in 2007 were Canada and Mexico, which supplied, respectively. As of 2011, the US consumed 18.8 million barrels of petroleum products per day, and imported a net 8.4 million barrels per day; the EIA reported the United States "Dependence on Net Petroleum Imports" in 2011 as 45%. During 2008-2009 the USA became a net exporter of refined oil products; before the US bought gasoline, diesel and kerosene in Europe, and smaller amounts from other countries.
Strategic Petroleum Reserve
The United States maintains a Strategic Petroleum Reserve at four sites on the Gulf of Mexico, with a total capacity of of crude oil. The maximum total withdrawal capability from the United States Strategic Petroleum Reserve is per day. This is roughly 32% of US oil imports, or 75% of imports from OPEC.
Prospective resources
Services under the U.S. Department of the Interior estimate the total volume of undiscovered, technically recoverable oil in the United States to be roughly. Over 1 million exploratory and developmental crude oil wells have already been drilled in the US since 1949. The United States Geological Survey estimates undiscovered technically recoverable crude oil onshore in United States to be The last comprehensive National Assessment was completed in 1995. Since 2000 the USGS has been re-assessing basins of the U.S. that are considered to be priorities for oil and gas resources. Since 2000, the USGS has re-assessed 22 priority basins, and has plans to re-assess 10 more basins. These 32 basins represent about 97% of the discovered and undiscovered oil and gas resources of the United States. The three areas considered to hold the most oil are the coastal plain area of ANWR, the National Petroleum Reserve of Alaska, and the Bakken Formation.
Offshore
The Minerals Management Service estimates the Federal Outer Continental Shelf contains between of undiscovered technically recoverable crude oil, with a mean estimate of. The Gulf of Mexico OCS ranks first with a mean estimate of, followed by Alaska OCS with. At $80/bbl crude prices, the MMS estimates that are economically recoverable. As of 2008, a total of about of the OCS are off-limits to leasing and development. The moratoria and presidential withdrawal cover about 85 percent of OCS area offshore the lower 48 states. The MMS estimates that the resources in OCS areas currently off limits to leasing and development total.
Arctic
In 1998, the USGS estimated that the 1002 area of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge contains a total of between 5.7 and of undiscovered, technically recoverable oil, with a mean estimate of, of which falls within the Federal portion of the ANWR 1002 Area. In May 2008 the EIA used this assessment to estimate the potential cumulative production of the 1002 area of ANWR to be a maximum of from 2018 to 2030. This estimate is a best case scenario of technically recoverable oil during the area's primary production years if legislation were passed in 2008 to allow drilling. A 2002 assessment concluded that the National Petroleum Reserve–Alaska contains between 6.7 and of oil, with a mean value of. The quantity of undiscovered oil beneath Federal lands is estimated to range between 5.9 and 13.2 BBO, with a mean value of 9.3 BBO. Most oil accumulations are expected to be of moderate size, on the order of 30 to each. Large accumulations like the Prudhoe Bay oil field, are not expected to occur. The volumes of undiscovered, technically recoverable oil estimated for NPRA are similar to the volumes estimated for ANWR. However, because of differences in accumulation sizes and differences in assessment area, economically recoverable resources are different at low oil prices. But at market prices above $40 per barrel, estimates of economically recoverable oil for NPRA are similar to ANWR.
Tight oil
In April 2008, the USGS released a report giving a new resource assessment of the Bakken Formation underlying portions of Montana and North Dakota. The USGS believes that with new horizontal drilling technology there is somewhere between of undiscovered, technically recoverable oil in this formation that was initially discovered in 1951. If accurate, this reassessment would make it the largest "continuous" oil accumulation ever discovered in the U.S. The formation is estimated to contain significantly more—figures in excess of have been reported—but it is yet uncertain how much of this oil is recoverable using current technology. In 2011, Harold Hamm claimed that the recoverable share may reach ; this would mean that Bakken contains more extractable petroleum than all other known oil fields in the country, combined.
Unconventional prospective resources
Oil shale
The United States has the largest known deposits of oil shale in the world, according to the Bureau of Land Management and holds an estimated of potentially recoverable oil. Oil shale does not actually contain oil, but a waxy oil precursor known as kerogen. There is significant commercial production of oil from oil shale in the United States.
Oil sands
There are significant volumes of heavy oil in the oil sands of northeast Utah. There has yet to be any significant production from these deposits.
