USGS estimates 96 trillion cubic feet of undiscovered gas on Alaska's North Slope
The U.S. Geological Survey said the technically recoverable volume is nearly three times the proven reserves.
AI illustrationThe U.S. Geological Survey has estimated that Alaska's North Slope holds 96 trillion cubic feet of undiscovered gas that is technically recoverable. The agency released the assessment on October 21, 2026.
According to the survey, that estimate is nearly three times the proven reserves. The figure covers resources that have not yet been discovered, so it describes potential rather than gas that has been found or produced.
The survey said its energy resource assessments are meant to give policymakers information on the resource potential of areas in the United States and around the world. It said the results are used in land-use and resource management plans. For companies, the agency said, such estimates of undiscovered energy resources offer context when they plan detailed exploration.
Images published with the release show the area assessed and some of the fieldwork behind it. They include a drilling platform and rig on Slope Mountain, a team of agency geologists measuring Triassic rocks exposed at Surprise Creek, and geologists studying the Cretaceous Kemik Formation. Other images show the northern foothills of the Brooks Range in central State Lands of the North Slope and the Karupa River where it leaves those foothills.
The assessment is part of wider work by the survey. Its Energy Resources Program carries out periodic assessments of the oil and natural gas endowment of the United States and the world, and publishes prioritized results and supporting data for the United States under the Energy Policy and Conservation Act. A separate World Energy Project studies the quantity, quality and geologic distribution of oil and gas resources worldwide. The survey describes that work as impartial and carried out with energy experts inside and outside government.