According to its release, the agency now puts the figure at 7.38 billion barrels, compared with 3.65 in their 2008 estimate.
They also tripled their gas estimates for the area — to 6.7 trillion cubic feet of undiscovered, technically recoverable gas and gas liquids.
The revisions are almost entirely the result of adding a new section, Three Forks, to the estimates. Anne-Berry Wade told us hydraulic fracturing — fracking — in that section has allowed geologists to up their estimates for what is technically recoverable.
Here's new Interior Secretary Sally Jewell's comment:
These world-class formations contain even more energy resource potential than previously understood, which is important information as we continue to reduce our nation’s dependence on foreign sources of oil. We must develop our domestic energy resources armed with the best available science, and this unbiased, objective information will help private, nonprofit and government decision makers at all levels make informed decisions about the responsible development of these resources.
Peak oil: still dead.