According to a USGS news release, the Hosston and Travis Peak formations under the western Gulf Coast states could yield as much as 28 million barrels of oil and nearly 36 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. The release added that since exploration began, the formations have already produced 8 trillion cubic feet of natural gas and 126 million barrels of oil.

These untapped resources are concentrated in a narrow area extending from southeast Texas through central Louisiana and the Mississippi River delta, including Louisiana's offshore state waters, the release said. It added that the untapped natural gas reserves would be equivalent to what the nation would use in 14 months under the present rate of consumption.

Christopher Schenk, a geologist with USGS, said that much of the unrecovered natural gas in the formations is in a form known as "tight gas." Found in low-permeability rock, dense material that resists the penetration of liquids or gases, tight gas would require drilling or fracking between 5,000 and 10,000 feet beneath the earth's surface to extract, he said.