Outer Continental Shelf oil and gas activities in the Gulf of Alaska (including Lower Cook Inlet) and their onshore impacts : a summary report, September 1980

Abstract

The search for oil and gas on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) in the Gulf of Alaska subregion of the Alaska leasing region began in 1967, when geophysical surveys of the area were initiated. Two lease sales have been held in the subregion. Lease Sale 39, for the Northern Gulf of Alaska, was held on April 13, 1976, and resulted in the leasing of 76 tracts. Lease Sale CI, for Lower Cook Inlet, was held on October 27, 1977, and resulted in the leasing of 87 tracts. Exploratory drilling on the tracts leased in Sale 39 began in September 1976, and exploratory drilling on tracts leased in Sale CI began in July 1978. Commercial amounts of hydrocarbons have not been found in any of the wells drilled in either sale area. Seventy-four of the leases issued in the Northern Gulf of Alaska have been relinquished. As of June 1980, exploratory drilling in both areas had ceased, and none was planned for the near future. The next lease sale in the Gulf of Alaska, Sale 55, is scheduled for October 1980. Lease Sale 60 (Lower Cook Inlet and Shelikof Strait) is scheduled for September 1981, and Lease Sale 61 (OCS offmore » Kodiak Island) is scheduled for April 1983. Sale 60 will be coordinated with a State lease sale in adjacent State-owned waters. The most recent estimates (June 1980) by the US Geological Survey of risked, economically recoverable resources for the 2 tracts currently under lease in the Northern Gulf of Alaska are negligible. For the 87 tracts currently under lease in Lower Cook Inlet, the USGS has produced risked, economically recoverable resource estimates of 35 million barrels of oil and 26 billion cubic feet of gas. These resource estimates for the leased tracts in both areas are short of commercially producible amounts. Onshore impacts from OCS exploration have been minimal. Two communities - Yakutat and Seward - served as support bases for the Northern Gulf of Alaska.« less