History of Petroleum Development in Arctic Alaska

Abstract

Long before recorded history, tar from oil seepages and oil shale that burned like wood were used for fuel by the Inuit (native people of Arctic Alaska). The first published descriptions of these oil seepages that identified Arctic Alaska as a petroliferous province appeared in 1909. In 1921, several applications for prospecting permits were filed by private groups under the old mining laws, but the permits were never issued. In 1923, President Harding set aside about half of the North Slope of Alaska, including most of the seepage areas, as Naval Petroleum Reserve No. 4. This was followed by three periods of federally sponsored exploration programs in the reserve and the adjoining areas during the periods 1923 to 1926, 1944 to 1952, and 1974 to 1982. Noncommercial oil and gas deposits were discovered in the reserve, the gas deposits at Barrow were developed for local use, and the feasibility of petroleum exploration and development in the Arctic was established. Industry exploration began in 1958 when the lands adjacent to the reserve were opened for lease. Prudhoe Bay, North America's largest oil field, was discovered in 1968. The history of petroleum development in Arctic Alaska provides an interesting study of themore » building of a geologic, geographic, and logistic base, of the lead time required for resource exploitation, of the interaction of government and industry, and of the expansion of the US resource base during a time of expanding ecologic awareness. Petroleum exploration in the Canadian Arctic region was stimulated by the activity across the border in Alaska.« less