The estimated amount of oil still underground in the US has risen again, for the fifth year in a row, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
From Inside Energy, Dan Boyce tells us the estimates haven’t been this high since 1975.
The EIA report estimates underground oil supplies which could be reasonably drilled with the economy and technology where they are.
It shows the biggest increases in these estimates in North Dakota, Texas and Colorado
But, these new figures are the 2013 numbers.
Oil prices have slid dramatically in the last six months, to less than $67 dollars a barrel - which means at least some of those supplies are now too expensive to recover
Doug Hock is a spokesman for oil company Encana.
He says that has definitely impacted drilling.
HOCK: “It’s always difficult to predict but yeah, certainly a different picture than we saw in 2013.”
Oil Producing countries like Saudi Arabia have been keeping prices low, analysts believe in an effort to slow down the US oil boom.
For Inside Energy, I’m Dan Boyce.
