Abstract
More than one-third of the approximately 3,500,000 square miles of land in the United States is owned by the federal government. Most of those federal lands are located in the western United States, particularly Alaska, where more than 95% of the land is federally owned. In addition, the United States has jurisdiction and control over as much as 1.3 million square miles of continental shelf and slope. Beneath those lands exists an enormous quantity of energy resources. This chapter discusses the procedures by which the federal government manages the exploration and development of offshore energy resources and the various policy considerations that underlie these procedures. The extent of proven offshore petroleum reserves in the world is considerable and the potential for development is enormous. There are at present approximately 30 nations that have established offshore oil and gas production with the aggregate reserves of approximately 90 billion barrels or over 20% of the world's total reserve figures. On a worldwide basis, current offshore production is over 6.5 million barrels per day or between 15 and 20% of the world's total.
Published Version
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