Map and database of exploration drilling targets categorized by play type, North Slope and offshore Arctic Alaska

Abstract

Miscellaneous Publication 167, Map and database of exploration drilling targets categorized by play type, North Slope and offshore Arctic Alaska, presents a compilation of discovery well and production data for oil and gas wells throughout the North Slope and offshore Arctic Alaska. Since exploration drilling began on the North Slope of Alaska in 1944, numerous oil and gas accumulations have been discovered and 18 billion barrels of liquid hydrocarbons have been produced from North Alaska through 2018. Wells have targeted five main play types: Ellesmerian clastics and carbonates (Kekiktuk, Lisburne, Ivishak, Shublik, and Sag River), Jurassic shoreface sands (Barrow, Simpson, Kugrua, Nechelik, Nuiqsut, and Alpine), Cretaceous rift sands (Walakpa, Kuparuk, Put River, Kemik, and Thomson), Brookian turbidites (Torok, Seabee, and Canning), and Brookian topsets (Nanushuk, Tuluvak, Schrader Bluff, West Sak, Ugnu, Prince Creek, and Sagavanirktok). A sixth category called 'Other' includes the remaining targets (e.g., basement, methane hydrates, and coalbed methane). This comprehensive study documents the drilling target by play type from public domain sources for 548 exploration wells on the North Slope and adjacent offshore areas in the Beaufort Sea and Chukchi Sea. The discovery well and production data for each producing pool are integrated into the study. All files are available from the DGGS website: http://doi.org/10.14509/30579.