How to Read EIA's U.S. Crude Oil and Natural Gas Proved Reserves — Reserves Changes, Shale Plays and Units

As of 4 November 2026, 00:38 KST; most recently published report: U.S. Crude Oil and Natural Gas Proved Reserves, Year-end 2024, from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). The report page, checked at 00:38 KST, shows a release date of April 7, 2026 and a next release date of April 2027; the sources used give no time of day. Primary source: https://www.eia.gov/naturalgas/crudeoilreserves/^[1][2]

Comparison basis: Table 1 is in million barrels for oil and billion cubic feet for natural gas, Table 2 in million barrels and Table 4 in trillion cubic feet, and the page text uses billion barrels and Tcf, so units must be read from each table. Table 1 percent changes are published to one decimal and calculated by EIA from unrounded numbers; the text rounds to whole percentages; this page's calculations for the selected rows are rounded half up to one decimal from the printed levels. The annual series compares year-ends, so the previous and year-ago columns are the same comparison. The page and tables are EIA publications and count as one source.^[1][2][3][4]

In three lines

1. EIA's annual proved reserves report estimates how much U.S. crude oil and natural gas is recoverable with reasonable certainty under existing economic and operating conditions, and how that changed during the year.
2. At year-end 2024, oil reserves were 45,951 million barrels (down 1.0%) and natural gas reserves 583,942 billion cubic feet (down 3.3%).
3. Shale plays held about 60% of oil reserves and 65% of natural gas reserves.^[1][2]

"U.S. crude oil and lease condensate proved reserves decreased 1% from 46.4 billion barrels to 46.0 billion barrels at year-end 2024." "Proved reserves of U.S. natural gas decreased 3%, from 603.6 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) at year-end 2023 to 583.9 Tcf at year-end 2024." "Proved reserves from shale plays grew to 60% of U.S. crude oil and lease condensate proved reserves, after increasing 5% from 26.2 billion barrels at year-end 2023 to 27.5 billion barrels at year-end 2024." "U.S. natural gas proved reserves from shale plays were at their lowest level since 2021, declining 3% from 393.1 Tcf to 379.4 Tcf at year-end 2024."^[1]

States and prices. "Texas crude oil and lease condensate reserves decreased 3% in 2024, the largest annual net decline (529 million barrels) reported among all states." "New Mexico crude oil and lease condensate proved reserves increased 8%, the largest net increase (496 million barrels) in 2024." "U.S. crude oil and lease condensate production increased 2% in 2024." "U.S. natural gas production increased 1% in 2024." "The price of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil at Cushing, Oklahoma, decreased 1%, from $77.58 per barrel (b) in 2023 to $76.63/b in 2024."^[1]

What proved reserves are and how they are estimated. "Proved reserves are estimated volumes of hydrocarbon resources that analysis of geologic and engineering data demonstrates with reasonable certainty are recoverable under existing economic and operating conditions." EIA received responses from 385 of the 398 companies it sampled that run U.S. oil and gas fields, covering about 95% of oil and 96% of natural gas proved reserves at the national level, and it estimates the portion of proved reserves from companies that do not report.^[1]

Opening reserves vs closing reserves. Table 1 lists the changes between year-ends: for oil, extensions and discoveries of 5,145, revisions and other changes of -3,845, net acquisitions and divestitures of 3,036 and production of 4,806 million barrels. Starting from 46,422 and applying these items gives 45,952 (this page's calculation) against the published 45,951; for natural gas the same steps give 583,943 against 583,942. The small differences are consistent with rounding of the printed items, so the table should not be read as an exact equation of printed figures. Revisions and other changes are described as: "Annual balancing item calculated by EIA."^[2]

Display precision of the shale gas change. The EIA report page [1] says shale gas reserves declined 3% (393.1 to 379.4 Tcf); calculated from Table 4 [4] the change is -3.485%, which is -3% as a whole number and -3.5% to one decimal (this page's calculation), so the two figures differ in displayed digits rather than disagree. The page's 5% for shale oil matches +5.0% calculated from Table 2 [3]. The cited page does not state its rounding rule.^[1][4]

Wet gas vs other gas measures. "Natural gas, wet after lease separation includes natural gas plant liquids." Reserves of wet gas are therefore not directly comparable with dry gas production figures in other EIA releases, and the shale table adds: "The production estimates are offered only as an observed indicator of production trends and may differ from EIA production volumes listed elsewhere on the EIA website."^[2][4]

Reserves vs production. Oil production deducted in Table 1 was 4,806 million barrels, while Table 2 lists 2,994 million barrels of production from shale plays, about 62.3% (this page's calculation, mixing two tables with different stated purposes).^[2][3]

Sample and coverage. The estimates come from a sample of field companies reporting on Form EIA-23L, with EIA estimating reserves for those that do not report; the coverage figures above refer to responding companies' share of proved reserves at the national level. The cited report page and tables do not provide a numeric error measure for the U.S. totals.^[1]