5 States with the Largest Oil Reserves in the US

4. Alaska

Total Proved Oil Reserves in 2021: 3.179 billion barrels

The oil and gas industry supports nearly 70,000 jobs in Alaska – a figure that could grow even further as the industry expects to invest another $14 billion in various projects in the next five years.

However, in September 2023, the White House scrapped controversial oil leases in an Alaskan wildlife reserve that were awarded in the final days of the Trump administration as part of a broad effort to clamp down on Arctic drilling. Their cancellation comes as President Joe Biden’s administration looks to burnish its environmental credentials in the face of criticism over support for fossil fuel projects.

Alaska’s National Petroleum Reserve is a 23 million acre area on the state’s North Slope, which was set aside as an emergency oil supply for the U.S. Navy in 1923. The area’s Prudhoe Bay Oil Field is one of the Largest Oil Fields in the U.S.