Oil and Natural Gas
Priorities: Unleash oil and natural gas production
Oil and Natural Gas Overview
Oil and natural gas have long been central pillars of the United States’ energy system, playing a pivotal role in powering the nation’s economy, transportation networks, and industrial capabilities. As the two largest primary energy sources in the country, they supply the majority of the fuel that moves goods and people, heats homes, and supports manufacturing, petrochemicals, and countless essential products. Their importance is not only rooted in their abundance and established infrastructure, but also in the reliability and high energy density they offer compared to many alternatives.
Today, oil and natural gas are positioned within an evolving energy landscape marked by growing renewable generation, technological innovation, and shifting policy priorities. While wind, solar, and other clean energy resources continue to expand, oil and gas remain indispensable, providing baseload power, balancing intermittent sources, and underpinning sectors that currently lack scalable substitutes.
Oil
Oil is mainly used for heating and transportation. While America’s dependence on foreign oil has declined in recent years, oil prices have increased. The U.S. Department of Energy’s approach to oil is two-pronged: to support research and policy options to increase our domestic supply of oil; and to ensure environmentally sustainable supplies domestically and abroad.
The Energy Information Administration (IEA)’s 2025 Refinery Capacity Report indicates there were 132 operable refineries in the U.S. in 2025, and U.S. crude oil production was 13.6 million barrels per day. Crude oil production is expected to remain at 13.6 million barrels per day for 2026, and forecasted at 14.2 million barrels per day for 2027. In 2025, the United States consumed an average of about 20.6 million barrels of petroleum per day, or a total of about 7.52 billion barrels of petroleum.
To achieve American energy independence, the Trump Administration is unleashing domestic production for oil, natural gas, and other energy sources. In 2026, executive actions reduced regulatory barriers, reopened federal lands and offshore areas for development, and streamlined permitting timelines to support expanded domestic oil and natural gas production.
The Energy Department is actively investing in research, technology and processes to make oil drilling cleaner and more efficient. Focus areas include enhanced oil recovery (EOR) and improved offshore drilling practices, among others.
DOE conducts extensive R&D in EOR to improve the efficiency and economic viability of extracting remaining oil from mature reservoirs. This work focuses on advanced recovery techniques such as CO₂ injection, chemical flooding, thermal methods, and reservoir characterization tools that increase the amount of oil that can be produced beyond what conventional primary and secondary recovery methods achieve. A key objective is to improve subsurface understanding and optimize how injected fluids interact with complex geologic formations, while also reducing emissions intensity and improving overall energy efficiency.
A major contributor to this effort is the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) Oil and Gas Center of Excellence, which leads applied research on subsurface energy systems. NETL develops and tests modeling tools, laboratory experiments, and field-scale validation approaches to improve CO₂-EOR performance and support carbon utilization and storage integration. Their work also includes improving monitoring, measurement, and verification (MMV) technologies to ensure safe and effective subsurface operations.
In parallel, Los Alamos National Laboratory advances EOR through its Oil and Gas Recovery Capability program, which applies high-performance computing, geoscience modeling, and experimental research to better predict fluid flow and chemical interactions in complex reservoirs. Los Alamos focuses heavily on multiphase flow simulation, fracture network behavior, and data-driven reservoir modeling. Together, NETL and Los Alamos contribute complementary capabilities—bridging experimental validation, field deployment, and advanced computational modeling—to enhance domestic oil recovery while also supporting broader DOE priorities such as carbon management and energy security.
Natural Gas
Natural gas is an abundant resource across the United States – in fact, America is the world’s leading natural gas producer, due to the dramatic rise in shale gas development that has resulted from new discoveries and extraction methods. The Energy Department is committed to safely developing these natural gas resources, with a focus on investing in innovative research, exploring natural gas development from methane hydrates, and supporting the deployment of alternative fuel vehicles powered by natural gas.
Natural gas is expected to reach 109 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) in 2026, a new all-time high. Liquid Natural Gas (LNG) exports were re-authorized in 2025 and are on track to exceed more than 17.6 Bcf/d of LNG.
Understanding the role of oil and natural gas within this broader context is essential for assessing the nation’s energy strategy, evaluating pathways to decarbonization, and balancing economic, environmental, and security considerations in the years ahead.
Market Research by Kristin Stiner
Updated June 30, 2026
Key Challenges
Key challenges in oil and natural gas recovery center on fundamental subsurface science, advanced monitoring, data integration, and environmentally responsible extraction. Key areas of focus include offshore drilling, and enhanced oil recovery (EOR). EOR includes a range of techniques that offer prospects for ultimately producing 30 to 60 percent, or more, of a reservoir’s original oil in place – compared to primary recovery approaches which produce only about 10 percent of a reservoir’s original oil in place.
Source: Department of Energy
Priorities of the DOE Hydrocarbons and Geothermal Energy Office (HGEO) with a focus on ensuring the resilience of U.S. oil and natural gas production and infrastructure reliability include: (1) Increase the recovery factor in unconventional reservoirs; (2) Lower the break-even cost of primary recovery operations; (3). Transform produced water into an economic resource; (4) Increase efficiencies and reliability of midstream infrastructure; (5) Develop advanced energy systems that provide low-cost baseload power and products.
The HGEO Office of Oil and Gas includes three divisions aligned with industry: (1) Production; (2) Transportation & Storage and (3) Power, Fuels & Chemicals
R&D priorities for Production include:
- Carbon Dioxide (CO2) Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR):
- Low-cost anthropogenic carbon dioxide (CO2) resources from point source capture (coal plants, ethanol, cement etc.)
- Field-based RD&D initiatives in CO₂-enhanced oil recovery (EOR) projects
- Enhanced compositional and flow metering capabilities across CO₂-EOR transport networks
- Advanced metallic and non-metallic materials
- Innovations in operational sweep efficiency and monitoring procedures
R&D Priorities for Transportation & Storage include:
- Enhanced Resource Utilization: Efficient, adaptable, and modular solutions
- Resilient Infrastructure Technologies: Technologies, materials, and equipment to eliminate product loss across the natural gas value chain
- System-Wide Performance Optimization: Novel sensors, advanced computing, and predictive analysis technologies to ensure infrastructure-wide performance and integrity
R&D Priorities for Power, Fuels & Chemicals include:
- Advanced Gas Turbines: Improving performance of combustion, cooling, and system designs
- Advanced Energy Materials: enabling higher temperature, higher efficiency turbine designs
- Advanced Refining Capabilities: Materials challenges
Market Research by Kristin Stiner
Updated June 30, 2026
Knowledge Hub
Annual Energy Outlook (AEO2026), 2026
The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA)’s Annual Energy Outlook 2026 (AEO2026) explores medium- and long-term alternative futures in the United States through 2050.
“DOE: Hydrocarbons and Geothermal Energy Office: Strategic Plan (2026-2036)”, 2026
This document provides a clear, actionable roadmap designed to stabilize the U.S. energy supply and delivery.
Fact Sheet: Delivering on U.S. Oil and Natural Gas Production, 2026
This DOE fact sheet summarizes federal efforts to support and expand U.S. oil and natural gas production through policy actions, research initiatives, and industry support programs aimed at strengthening domestic energy supply.
Refinery Capacity Report, 2025
The EIA Refinery Capacity Report provides annual data and analysis on U.S. petroleum refinery capacity, utilization, and related infrastructure, including regional breakdowns and changes over time. It serves as a key reference for understanding the scale, efficiency, and operational status of the nation’s refining system.
Short Term Energy Outlook (STEO), June 2026
The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA)’s Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO) provides regular forecasts and analysis of U.S. and global energy supply, demand, prices, and inventories over a 1–2 year horizon. It is widely used by policymakers, industry, and analysts to understand near-term trends in oil, natural gas, electricity, coal, and emissions based on evolving market and macroeconomic conditions.
U.S. Department of Energy Hydrocarbons & Geothermal Energy Office Strategic Plan, 2026-2036, 2026
This Strategic Plan outlines an actionable roadmap designed to stabilize the U.S. energy supply and delivery, while innovating for a secure and prosperous future.
Market Research by Kristin Stiner
Updated June 30, 2026
Conferences
September 14–17, 2026, Houston, Texas
Gastech is arguably the largest global conference focused on natural gas and LNG. Topics include LNG infrastructure, gas processing, methane management, hydrogen, carbon management, digital energy technologies, and energy security.
This conference draws approximately 50,000 attendees and has around 1,000 exhibitors. Typical attendees include LNG developers, natural gas producers, utilities, pipeline operators, EPC firms, hydrogen developers, energy traders, government officials, technology suppliers, and investors.
Oil & Gas Digital Transformation Conference & Exhibition 2026
September 23-24, 2026, Houston, Texas
For organizations looking at emerging technology opportunities in oil and gas, especially AI, machine learning, automation, digital twins, predictive maintenance, edge computing, and industrial software, this conference may provide better access to technology adopters than some of the larger engineering-focused conferences.
This event draws approximately 350 attendees and has hundreds of conference sessions presented each day.
SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition
October 21–23, 2026, Houston, Texas
ATCE is the premier technical conference for upstream petroleum technology, with sessions covering drilling automation, AI and analytics, CCUS, enhanced oil recovery, geothermal applications, production optimization, and emerging energy technologies. Typical attendance includes 5,300+ E&P professionals including reservoir engineers, drilling and completions engineers, production engineers, geoscientists, digital oilfield specialists, technology developers, energy executives, researchers, and students.
Unconventional Resources Technology Conference
June 22–24, 2026, Houston, Texas
The conference focuses on shale oil and gas, hydraulic fracturing, reservoir characterization, subsurface imaging, AI applications, drilling optimization, water management, and unconventional resource development.
URTeC does not publish attendee counts on its current website, but it is widely recognized as the leading technical event for unconventional resource development and typically attracts thousands of professionals from shale and tight-resource plays.
North American Prospect Expo Summit
February 3–5, 2027, Houston, Texas
NAPE is more commercial than technical. It is one of the best venues for identifying technology adoption trends, meeting operators, evaluating investment opportunities, and understanding where capital is flowing in the upstream sector.
The conference draws thousands of attendees and hundreds of exhibitors, with more than 450 exhibiting companies in recent years. Typical attendees include E&P executives, landmen, geologists, investors and private equity firms, mineral and royalty buyers, service companies, technology providers, energy executives and business development professionals.
Offshore Technology Conference
May 3–5, 2027, Houston, Texas
OTC is the leading event for offshore oil and gas technologies, including deepwater systems, subsea processing, floating production systems, offshore digitalization, robotics, and offshore energy transition technologies.
OTC has historically attracted tens of thousands of offshore energy professionals from around the world. The 2027 organizers describe it as the global gathering place for offshore energy professionals. Typical attendees include offshore operators, subsea engineers, drilling engineers, marine systems engineers, offshore wind developers, energy-transition technology firms, researchers, and C-suite executives and decision-makers.
Market Research by Kristin Stiner
Updated June 30, 2026
Explore Other Energy Sources
Stay in the Know with Dawnbreaker®
Receive valuable industry insights such as our Market Snapshots, SBIR/STTR & TABA updates, & webinar announcements.
