What term describes volumes of oil and gas that are thought to be economically recoverable?

• A. Reserves
• B. Resources
• C. Contingent Resources
• D. Proved Reserves

Answer: (A)

Reserves are the volumes of oil and gas that are expected to be economically recoverable under current prices, costs, technology, and operating conditions. That means there’s a reasonable expectation you can profitably extract them in the future. This distinguishes reserves from resources, which include discoveries that may not be economical to develop yet. Contingent resources are those that might become reserves if certain conditions change (like pricing or technology), while proved reserves are the subset with the highest level of certainty. So the term that best fits “volumes thought to be economically recoverable” is reserves.