The Petroleum Resources Branch is organized of the Oil Division, the Natural Gas Division and the Frontier Lands Management Division. The mandates of the three divisions are related in that they deal with petroleum.

The Oil and Natural Gas Divisions are responsible for supporting the exploration, development, production, transportation, upgrading or refining, and sale in domestic and export markets for natural gas, oil and petroleum products. This responsibility relates to federal energy policy in general.

The Divisions also advise the Minister on his statutory obligations under the National Energy Boards Act, the Transportation Safety Board Act, the Energy Supplies Allocation Act and the Pipelines Arbitration Secretariat.

The Frontier Lands Management Division manages the federal interest in petroleum on Canada's frontier lands south of the 60 degree N. The land management regime offshore the East Coast is governed by federal provincial accords, under which activities are administered and regulated by offshore boards. In the non  Accord areas, the Frontier Lands Management Division is the administrator and the National Energy Board is the regulator.

Within the branch's portfolio, the Energy Infrastructure Protection Division coordinates initiatives aimed at enhancing the state of security and levels of protection at critical Canadian energy production and transportation facilities.