US geological survey discovers largest oil deposit in US on record

The largest deposit of oil in the United States, amounting to estimated 20 billion barrels, has been discovered in the western part of the US state of Texas, the US Geological Survey said in a report.

"The estimate of continuous oil in the Midland Basin Wolfcamp shale assessment is nearly three times larger than that of the 2013 USGS Bakken-Three Forks resource assessment, making this the largest estimated continuous oil accumulation that USGS has assessed in the United States to date," the report stated on Wednesday.

According to USGS estimates, the Wolfcamp shale in the Midland Basin in Texas contains estimated 20 billion barrels of oil, 16 trillion cubic feet of associated natural gas and 1.6 billion barrels of natural gas liquids.

"Changes in technology and industry practices can have significant effects on what resources are technically recoverable, and that’s why we continue to perform resource assessments throughout the United States and the world," Walter Guidroz, program coordinator for the USGS Energy Resources Program, was quoted in the report as saying.

Oil and gas companies have recently begun using horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, in the Midland Basin Wolfcamp section, according to the report.