The CORE Act of 2025 directs federal agencies to map, assess, and report on offshore oil and gas resources, with a focus on transboundary hydrocarbon reservoirs and standardizing how resource estimates are made. Key tasks in the bill include: a report by the Secretaries of Energy, the Interior, and State within 18 months identifying transboundary reservoirs, reviewing legal frameworks, analyzing economic, environmental, and geopolitical effects, recommending ways to cooperate with neighboring countries, and reviewing recent U.S.–Canada data and unresolved maritime boundaries. The bill amends an Energy Policy Act inventory requirement to mandate consultation with other agencies at least once every 5 years, expands the geographic inventory to include the Atlantic, Pacific (off California, Oregon, Washington, and Hawaii), Alaska, the Gulf of America, and U.S. territories, and requires analysis of how withdrawn or protected areas affect exploration, national security, jobs, and certain revenues. It also requires identification of non-energy minerals offshore.
The bill requires agencies to use advanced data and modeling tools (including AI and quantum computing where applicable), to assess and update the models used for resource inventories (first assessment within 1 year, then at least every 10 years), and to publish reports explaining any updates. Separately, the Department of the Interior must publish a comparative analysis (within 1 year and then at least every 10 years) of major offshore producing countries’ leasing and production practices, production volumes, market and export capacity, and resource estimates in coordination with the U.S. Geological Survey. Reports are to be submitted to multiple congressional committees and posted on the Department of the Interior website.
The bill sponsors listed are Representatives Wesley Hunt and Nicholas Begich. Status: In Progress; ordered to be reported in the nature of a substitute (yeas and nays 25–18).
If enacted, federal agencies would collect and publish more detailed information about offshore oil and gas resources, including areas that cross maritime boundaries with other countries. The bill would require new or expanded studies, model reviews, and public reports on where resources may exist, how other countries manage offshore leasing and production, and how protected or withdrawn areas affect resource development and related jobs or revenues. The text does not itself change leasing or drilling rules; it focuses on assessment, mapping, modeling, and reporting.
No publicly available information on cost estimates or specific funding in the bill text or the provided metadata. The bill requires agency studies, reports, and technology use, but it does not include detailed budget or appropriations language in the provided text.
The bill’s stated purpose is "to enhance national security and energy independence through comprehensive offshore energy resource assessment and mapping." Supporters, as reflected in the bill language, emphasize improving data, reducing uncertainty about offshore resources, standardizing models and methods, and enhancing cooperation with neighboring countries to inform decisions about exploration and production.
No publicly available information on opponents’ views in the bill text or the provided metadata.