Last week, my colleague Keith Meekins attended a presentation by petroleum geologist Samuel Epstein. Like the late Paul Post, a leading expert on the petroleum geology of the Atlantic OCS, Epstein believes the US Atlantic has major resource potential. Per Epstein:
Untested ultra-deep potential hydrocarbon resources are located in the BOEM play area 8, termed the BCT Structural Belt Jurassic-Cretaceous Interior Shelf. Thus, significantly more risked recoverable reserves, due to 1) Two salt ridges penetrating Middle Jurassic age sediments identified in seismic records located to the north of the Schlee Dome, analogous to the ultra-deep salt related Norphlet Formation, offshore Gulf of Mexico and the onshore East Texas, Pearsall Field and 2) stratigraphic plays including below a 60 m thick and 7500 km square evaporitic feature in Early Jurassic rocks flanking the Schlee Dome.
Looking more broadly at Atlantic resource potential, Paul Post had estimated that the US Atlantic could contain 21.4 billion BOE with the major caveat that the presence of a working petroleum system was required and that could only be determined through drilling. Per Paul:
The US Atlantic stands out. It has not been explored in paleo deep- and ultra-deepwater using exploration concepts proven successful in similar settings.
Also, see “Opportunity Lost“
Bud's Offshore Energy (BOE) 
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