I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 2556
To enhance national security and energy independence through comprehensive
offshore energy resource assessment and mapping, to establish a frame-
work for the regular review and standardization of offshore resource
exploration methodologies, and for related purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
APRIL1, 2025
Mr. H
UNTintroduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee
on Natural Resources, and in addition to the Committees on Energy and
Commerce, and Foreign Affairs, for a period to be subsequently deter-
mined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions
as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned
A BILL
To enhance national security and energy independence
through comprehensive offshore energy resource assess-
ment and mapping, to establish a framework for the
regular review and standardization of offshore resource
exploration methodologies, and for related purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Comprehensive Off-4
shore Resource Enhancement Act of 2025’’ or the ‘‘CORE 5
Act of 2025’’. 6
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SEC. 2. ASSESSMENT OF OFFSHORE ENERGY RESOURCES 1
AND RESERVES. 2
(a) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 3
(1) E
XPLORATION; DEVELOPMENT, PRODUC-4
TION.—The terms ‘‘exploration’’, ‘‘development’’, 5
and ‘‘production’’ have the meanings given such 6
terms in section 2 of the Outer Continental Shelf 7
Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 1331). 8
(2) S
ECRETARIES.—The term ‘‘Secretaries’’ 9
means the Secretary of Energy, the Secretary of the 10
Interior, and the Secretary of State. 11
(b) R
EPORT ONTRANSBOUNDARY HYDROCARBON 12
R
ESERVOIRS.— 13
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Not later than 18 months 14
after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secre-15
taries shall jointly submit to the Committee on En-16
ergy and Natural Resources and the Committee on 17
Foreign Relations of the Senate and the Committee 18
on Energy and Commerce, the Committee on Nat-19
ural Resources, and the Committee on Foreign Af-20
fairs of the House of Representatives a report that 21
includes the following: 22
(A) An identification and assessment of 23
any existing transboundary hydrocarbon res-24
ervoirs, including those covered by bilateral 25
maritime boundary treaties and agreements, 26
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and any potential transboundary areas for fu-1
ture exploration, development, and production 2
of hydrocarbons. 3
(B) An analysis of the legal frameworks 4
established by relevant maritime boundary trea-5
ties and agreements, including provisions re-6
lated to the equitable exploration, development, 7
and production of transboundary hydrocarbon 8
reservoirs and mechanisms for resolving dis-9
putes, and their adoption by counterparty na-10
tions. 11
(C) An evaluation of the potential eco-12
nomic, environmental, and geopolitical implica-13
tions of transboundary hydrocarbon exploration, 14
development, and production, including impacts 15
on domestic energy security, greenhouse gas 16
emissions, and international relations. 17
(D) Recommendations for enhancing co-18
operation and coordination among the United 19
States and neighboring countries in the explo-20
ration, development, and production of trans-21
boundary hydrocarbon reservoirs, including 22
mechanisms for information sharing, joint ex-23
ploration, development, and production, and 24
dispute resolution. 25
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(E) Data and insights derived from recent 1
collaborative efforts between the United States 2
and Canada, such as seismic data collection, 3
and an analysis of how such efforts can inform 4
the delineation of maritime boundaries. 5
(F) An examination of unresolved mari-6
time boundaries between the United States and 7
Canada, particularly those involving potential 8
transboundary hydrocarbon reservoirs, and an 9
identification of potential legal and diplomatic 10
avenues to resolve disputes over such bound-11
aries, including the possibility of involving inter-12
national judicial bodies such as the Inter-13
national Court of Justice or a chamber con-14
stituted by such Court pursuant to a special 15
agreement between the parties. 16
(G) A review of existing data on the poten-17
tial for shared exploration, development, and 18
production of transboundary hydrocarbon res-19
ervoirs in disputed maritime zones between the 20
United States and Canada, with recommenda-21
tions for further studies or negotiations to ad-22
dress uncertainties and maximize joint explo-23
ration, development, and production opportuni-24
ties. 25
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(H) A comprehensive review of activities by 1
neighboring countries, including Cuba, Mexico, 2
Canada, the Bahamas, and Russia, regarding 3
the exploration, development, seismic surveying, 4
drilling, production, or any other activity re-5
lated to transboundary hydrocarbon reservoirs, 6
which such review shall include the status of 7
any bilateral or multilateral agreements, an as-8
sessment of foreign exploration, development, 9
and production efforts within transboundary 10
zones adjacent to United States maritime 11
boundaries, and an analysis of the potential im-12
plications of these activities for United States 13
energy security, environmental impacts, and 14
geopolitical considerations. 15
(2) O
THER REQUIREMENTS .—In preparing the 16
report required to be submitted under paragraph 17
(1), the Secretaries shall— 18
(A) prioritize the acquisition and use of 19
advanced geophysical, geological, and 20
geotechnical data and methods; 21
(B) acquire and apply new and emerging 22
modeling and analytic technologies, including 23
data analysis tools, quantum computing, artifi-24
cial intelligence, modeling, and geographic in-25
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formation systems, to approximate the quantity 1
and establish a peer-reviewed range of resources 2
in each regional planning area with a discussion 3
of the upper and lower bound of the estimates 4
with that discussion to include recommenda-5
tions as to how to reduce the range of uncer-6
tainty; and 7
(C) in partnership with other relevant Fed-8
eral agencies, including the National Science 9
Foundation, the National Oceanic and Atmos-10
pheric Administration, and the Office of Naval 11
Research, utilize any existing maritime vessels 12
or deployed capability, including any geo-13
physical, geological, or related mapping tech-14
nologies. 15
(c) S
TANDARDIZATION OF EXISTINGREPORTS.— 16
Section 357 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (42 U.S.C. 17
15912) is amended— 18
(1) in subsection (a)— 19
(A) by inserting ‘‘, in consultation with 20
other relevant Federal agencies and not less 21
frequently than once every 5 years,’’ after ‘‘Sec-22
retary shall’’; and 23
(B) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘of Mex-24
ico and Canada’’; 25
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(2) by redesignating subsection (b) as sub-1
section (d); 2
(3) by inserting after subsection (a) the fol-3
lowing: 4
‘‘(b) I
NCLUSIONS.—An inventory and analysis con-5
ducted under subsection (a) shall include the following: 6
‘‘(1) An assessment of the approximate quan-7
tity of undiscovered resources in the Atlantic region, 8
the Pacific region off the coasts of California, Or-9
egon, Washington, and Hawaii, the Alaska region, 10
the Gulf of America region, and offshore of terri-11
tories of the United States, which shall include the 12
following: 13
‘‘(A) A detailed analysis of how the future 14
production of these undiscovered resources 15
could influence the United States capacity to 16
competitively produce, market, and export hy-17
drocarbons on a global scale. Such detailed 18
analysis shall consider key market variables 19
such as global supply and demand dynamics, 20
projected price points, geopolitical factors, and 21
the role of United States production in main-22
taining global energy security. 23
‘‘(B) An economic analysis of how the de-24
velopment and production of these undiscovered 25
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resources would affect domestic employment 1
across the supply chain. Such economic analysis 2
shall include direct, indirect, and induced job 3
impacts, emphasizing the potential for job cre-4
ation in exploration, production, refining, logis-5
tics, and associated industries. 6
‘‘(2) An identification and assessment of how 7
the unavailability for leasing of any lands that are 8
withdrawn under section 12 of the Outer Conti-9
nental Shelf Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 1341) or part of 10
the National Marine Sanctuary System established 11
by section 301(c) of the National Marine Sanc-12
tuaries Act (16 U.S.C. 1431(c)) affects— 13
‘‘(A) the exploration, development, and 14
production of oil and gas; 15
‘‘(B) national security, including the Na-16
tion’s ability to supply the Armed Forces, its al-17
lies, and trade partners with products derived 18
from offshore oil or gas; 19
‘‘(C) domestic jobs and employment; and 20
‘‘(D) the amount of revenue States and 21
coastal political subdivisions receive pursuant 22
to— 23
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‘‘(i) section 105 of the Gulf of Mexico 1
Energy Security Act of 2006 (43 U.S.C. 2
1331 note); 3
‘‘(ii) the Land and Water Conserva-4
tion Fund (established under section 5
200301 of title 54, United States Code); 6
and 7
‘‘(iii) division A of subtitle III of title 8
54 (commonly referred to as the ‘National 9
Historic Preservation Act’). 10
‘‘(3) An assessment, including identification of 11
locations, of non-energy mineral resources for com-12
mercial or national security operations, including 13
stone, sand, and gravel, and offshore critical min-14
erals. 15
‘‘(c) U
PDATINGMODELS.— 16
‘‘(1) A
SSESSMENT.—The Secretary shall, in 17
consultation with the National Petroleum Council, 18
the Society of Petroleum Engineers, and the United 19
States Association for Energy Economics, periodi-20
cally conduct an assessment of the costs, benefits, 21
and accuracy of the models utilized by the Depart-22
ment of the Interior to conduct an inventory and 23
analysis under subsection (a). The first assessment 24
under this paragraph shall be conducted not later 25
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than 1 year after the date of enactment of the 1
CORE Act of 2025, and subsequent assessments not 2
less frequently than once every 10 years thereafter. 3
‘‘(2) U
PDATES AND REPORTS .— 4
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year 5
after the date on which the Secretary conducts 6
an assessment under paragraph (1), the Sec-7
retary of the Interior shall, based on such as-8
sessment— 9
‘‘(i) update the models described in 10
such paragraph and publish a report on 11
such update; or 12
‘‘(ii) publish a report on why an up-13
date to such models is not necessary. 14
‘‘(B) I
NCLUSIONS.—Each report published 15
under subparagraph (A) shall include the fol-16
lowing: 17
‘‘(i) A clear, detailed explanation of 18
any updates made to the models described 19
in paragraph (1) or why updates were not 20
necessary. 21
‘‘(ii) An evaluation describing how any 22
updates made under subparagraph (A) im-23
prove the accuracy, cost-effectiveness, and 24
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reliability of the inventories and analyses 1
conducted under subsection (a). 2
‘‘(iii) If any updates recommend by 3
the National Petroleum Council, the Soci-4
ety of Petroleum Engineers, or the United 5
States Association for Energy Economics 6
are not incorporated, a detailed expla-7
nation of why such updates were not incor-8
porated.’’; and 9
(4) in subsection (d) (as so redesignated)— 10
(A) by striking ‘‘The Secretary shall sub-11
mit’’ and inserting ‘‘Not later than 1 year after 12
the date of enactment of the CORE Act of 13
2025, the Secretary shall submit’’; and 14
(B) by striking ‘‘, within 6 months of the 15
date of enactment of the section’’. 16
SEC. 3. COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF PRODUCTION PRAC-17
TICES FROM OFFSHORE PRODUCING COUN-18
TRY. 19
Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment 20
of this Act, and not less frequently than once every 10 21
years thereafter, the Secretary of the Interior, in consulta-22
tion with the Secretary of State and the Secretary of En-23
ergy, shall publish on the website of the Department of 24
the Interior and submit to the Committee on Natural Re-25
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sources of the House of Representatives and the Com-1
mittee on Energy and Natural Resources of the Senate 2
a comparative analysis of the offshore oil and gas explo-3
ration, development, and production practices for each 4
major offshore producing country. To the fullest extent 5
practicable, such comparative analysis shall include the 6
following: 7
(1) Data on— 8
(A) the number of offshore acres offered 9
for lease; 10
(B) the frequency of lease auctions, sales, 11
and lease issuances; and 12
(C) lease structures, fiscal terms, and the 13
competitive positioning of each major offshore 14
producing country relative to United States 15
leasing practices. 16
(2) Detailed reporting on the volume of oil and 17
gas produced (measured in barrels on an annual 18
basis and cubic feet, respectively), including histor-19
ical trends, production forecasts, and the influence 20
of technological advancements on production effi-21
ciency and recovery rates. 22
(3) An accounting of regional market demands, 23
export capabilities, and contributions to energy di-24
versification strategies. 25
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(4) An assessment, which shall be made in col-1
laboration with the United States Geological Survey, 2
of the volume of both undiscovered and discovered 3
offshore oil and gas resources, including probabilistic 4
estimates of resource volumes that consider geologi-5
cal, technological, and market factors impacting ex-6
ploration, development, and production. 7
Æ
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