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Authorities estimate that the amount of oil in reservoirs on the continental shelves of the world total 2 trillion barrels. It is also estimated that possibly less than 1% of all hydrocarbons ever generated become entrapped in a reservoir. To account for 2 trillion barrels of oil reserves, 198 trillion barrels would have to be initially formed.
The pervasive theory of seepage states that the entire surface area of a source bed is available for hydrocarbon migration, and that the entire surface area of an offshore basin may be available for seepage. Tar globs and fragments and oil droplets have been recovered in dredges and cores from every physiographic province in the Gulf of Mexico. Pervasive seepage of 0.1 bbl/day/ 1000 sq mi in the Gulf of Mexico would produce 18,250 barrels/year. Using Week's (1965) estimate of 6,170,000 sq mi of potential petroleum bearing area for the continental shelves of the world, and assuming the same seepage rate per 1000 sq mi, would produce 225,205 barrels/year. This rate could be sustained for 879 million years.
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Archaeological reports indicate that the Karankawa Indians were using tar in their pottery making in pre-Columbian times. Pottery making in pre-Columbian times. Survivors of DeSoto's group used tar found along the Texas-Louisiana coast to caulk their boats. From 1902 to 1909 heavy oil slicks were noted in an area about 100 miles south of the Louisiana coast. Oil spouting into the air was reported in the same area in 1909. Oil ponds off the Sabine area are reported in a USGS publication in 1903. Publication in 1903. Reports of seeps in the Gulf are numerous, and the Department's study has located several general areas of seepage within and around the Gulf of Mexico.
