In 2008 the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) completed an assessment of undiscovered conventional oil and gas resources in all areas north of the Arctic Circle.

Using a geology-based probabilistic methodology, the USGS estimated the occurrence of undiscovered oil and gas in 33 geologic provinces thought to be prospective for petroleum.

The sum of the mean estimates for each province indicates that 90 billion barrels of oil, 1,669 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, and 44 billion barrels of natural gas liquids may remain to be found in the Arctic, of which approximately 84 percent is expected to occur in offshore areas.

Circum-Arctic Resource Appraisal: Estimates of Undiscovered Oil and Gas North of the Arctic Circle

Oil (MMBO) Gas (BCFG) NGL (MMBNGL) BOE (MMBOE)
WSB West Siberian Basin 3659.88 651498.56 20328.69 132571.66
AA Arctic Alaska 29960.94 221397.60 5904.97 72765.52
EBB East Barents Basin 7406.49 317557.97 1422.28 61755.10
EGR East Greenland Rift Basins 8902.13 86180.06 8121.57 31387.04
YK Yenisey-Khatanga Basin 5583.74 99964.26 2675.15 24919.61
AM Amerasia Basin 9723.58 56891.21 541.69 19747.14
WGEC West Greenland-East Canada 7274.40 51818.16 1152.59 17063.35
LSS Laptev Sea Shelf 3115.57 32562.84 867.16 9409.87
NM Norwegian Margin 1437.29 32281.01 504.73 7322.19
BP Barents Platform 2055.51 26218.67 278.71 6704.00
EB Eurasia Basin 1342.15 19475.43 520.26 5108.31
NKB North Kara Basins and Platforms 1807.26 14973.58 390.22 4693.07
TPB Timan-Pechora Basin 1667.21 9062.59 202.80 3380.44
NGS North Greenland Sheared Margin 1349.80 10207.24 273.09 3324.09
LM Lomonosov-Makarov 1106.78 7156.25 191.55 2491.04
SB Sverdrup Basin 851.11 8596.36 191.20 2475.04
LA Lena-Anabar Basin 1912.89 2106.75 56.41 2320.43
NCWF North Chukchi-Wrangel Foreland Basin 85.99 6065.76 106.57 1203.52
VLK Vilkitskii Basin 98.03 5741.87 101.63 1156.63
NWLS Northwest Laptev Sea Shelf 172.24 4488.12 119.63 1039.90
LV Lena-Vilyui Basin 376.86 1335.20 35.66 635.06
ZB Zyryanka Basin 47.82 1505.99 40.14 338.95
ESS East Siberian Sea Basin 19.73 618.83 10.91 133.78
HB Hope Basin 2.47 648.17 11.37 121.87
NWC Northwest Canada Interior Basins 23.34 305.34 15.24 89.47
MZB Mezen’ Basin NQA NQA NQA NQA
NZAA Novaya Zemlya Basins and Admiralty Arch NQA NQA NQA NQA
TUN Tunguska Basin NQA NQA NQA NQA
CB Chuckhi Borderland NQA NQA NQA NQA
YF Yukon Flats (part of Ceentral Province) Alaska NQA NQA NQA NQA
LS Long Strait NQA NQA NQA NQA
JMM Jan Mayen Microcontinent NQA NQA NQA NQA
FS Franklinian Shelf NQA NQA NQA NQA
Total 89,983.21 1668,657.84 44,064.24 412,157.09