Inside Texas Shale: $200B Oil Jackpot, 1.6B Barrels to Fuel American Cars

A new USGS assessment estimates Texas and New Mexico’s Woodford and Barnett shales hold 1.6 billion barrels of oil and 28.3 trillion cubic feet of gas—major but not endless resources. Advances in drilling technology make extraction possible, promising more energy, jobs, and geopolitical leverage. However, “technically recoverable” doesn’t guarantee production, as costs, environmental impacts, and regulations play a role. The discovery highlights the tension between U.S. energy security and global emission reduction goals, raising questions about how much of this resource should actually be developed for America’s future.