Report: Wyoming 4th in oil, natural gas for undiscovered resources

CHEYENNE (WNE) — The U.S. Geological Survey released a report earlier this week on undiscovered oil and gas resources in formations under the federally managed public lands of the United States broken out by state, estimating that there are technically recoverable resources of 988.3 million barrels of oil, fourth in the nation, and 57.1 trillion cubic feet of gas, fourth in the nation, in Wyoming.

If produced, that would be enough oil to supply all the nation’s needs for a month and a half at the current rate of consumption, and enough natural gas to meet the nation’s needs for a year and nine months.

The onshore public lands of the United States included in the report are those administered by the Departments of Agriculture (Forest Service), Defense, Energy and Interior (Bureau of Land Management, Bureau of Reclamation, Fish and Wildlife Service, National Park Service), and the Tennessee Valley Authority.

For the nation’s public lands, the report estimates a total of 29.4 billion barrels of oil, and 391.6 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.

The undiscovered oil and gas resource estimates are both significant increases from the most recent USGS estimates in 1998. 

These increases are due not to any change in the subsurface but to the revolution in energy production since the previous USGS estimates of undiscovered oil and gas resources on public lands in 1998, when the USGS estimated 7.86 billion barrels of oil and 201.1 trillion cubic feet of gas.

This story was published on June 21, 2025.