From the Minerals Management Service (MMS) and U.S. Geological Survey's Survey of Available Data on OCS Resources and Identification of Data Gaps:
"The MMS assessment of the hydrocarbon potential of the OCS is based on the analysis of published information and proprietary geologic, geophysical, and engineering data obtained by industry from operations performed under permits or mineral leases and furnished to the MMS. These estimates of undiscovered technically recoverable resources (UTRR) are subjected to a separate analysis incorporating economic and engineering parameters to estimate the undiscovered economically recoverable resources."
The report primarily relies on MMS's historical data for information for oil and gas resources. But if MMS fails to fulfill its obligations to inspect the tools to measure production and there are virtually no third-party checks on volume accuracy, can we be sure we are getting an accurate picture of what our resource availability is? These numbers may be more accurate than royalty collections are, though--Interior's Bureau of Land Management (BLM) officials told GAO last year that "activities related to drilling, including drilling inspections, take priority over completing production inspections."
-- Mandy Smithberger
Comments