Gateway to ANWR - 3rd Quarter 1998
USGS study shows more oil in ANWR
There
may be as much oil under the coastal plain of ANWR as that extracted from
Prudhoe Bay since 1977. According to a new U.S. Geological Survey (USGS)
assessment, the "1002 Area" holds almost seven billion barrels of oil
more than previously thought.
The Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act of 1980 established the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. In section 1002 of the act, Congress deferred a decision on the future management of the 1.5-million-acre coastal plain (i.e. 1002 area) because of its enormous petroleum potential. In 1987 the USGS assessed the area using old technology.
Since then, oilfields have been discovered near the border of ANWR; seismic processes and interpretation have improved dramatically, and the economics and environmental impact of North Slope petroleum development has changed significantly. Now, ten years later, a new USGS assessment is providing startling results.
Technically recoverable oil within the entire 1002 area (including state and native lands) is estimated to be between 5.7 billion (95% chance) and 16 billion (5% chance) barrels. For federal lands alone, estimates range from 4.3 to 11.8 billion barrels. Let's put that into perspective. Prudhoe Bay, North America's largest oilfield, has produced over 10 billion barrels in the last two decades.
How about dollars for Americans and the U.S. economy? The USGS says that the mid-range quantity of oil that could be produced from the 1002 areas using current technology (10.3 billion barrels) is worth about $128 billion worth of crude at today's oil prices.
The new information is the product of a three-year study by 40 USGS scientists who coordinated with other federal and state agencies and several universities. New field studies were conducted, new well and sample data were analyzed and new geophysical data were acquired. In addition, all of the 1,400 miles of seismic data collected by the industry in 1984-85 were reprocessed and reinterpreted using state-of-the-art technology.
One significant change from prior USGS studies is the location of estimated reserves. The 1998 study indicates that most (85%) lie in the northwest corner, where infrastructure for oilfield development already exists nearby. The 1987 report estimated that three-quarters of the reserves were located in the more remote eastern area.
As remarkable as these results are, they are quite conservative, according to independent geologists, state officials and the USGS. The 1998 study assumed industry would only develop oilfields that could produce 512 million barrels or more. In fact, exploration companies have developed discoveries as small as 125 million barrels. It follows that the amount of oil that could be developed may well be much larger than the new assessment suggests.
Senate Energy Committee holds hearing on ANWR potential
3-D seismic testing urged to confirm new petroleum estimates
U.S. Senate Energy Committee Chair Frank Murkowski (Alaska) agrees that it is time to add a third dimension to the federal government's understanding of ANWR's Coastal Plain.
Saying it's a shame that the federal government doesn't devote more resources to the search for oil (oil sales account for the federal treasury's second largest source of revenue) the senator has asked the Clinton Administration to allow use of new technology to better pinpoint ANWR reserves. The demand came during a July 23 committee hearing on the results of the new U.S. Geological Society's recent assessment of ANWR's oil potential.
"The federal government is facing a real dilemna. We know from the Sourdough discovery that there are oil reserves near the coastal plain. The federal government has a responsibility to benefit from those resources," said Murkowski, who plans to introduce legislation allowing the USGS to use 3-dimensional seismic computer technology to refine petroleum estimates for the Coastal Plain.
Senator Murkowski noted that the new USGS estimates, while the most thorough ever, are extremely conservative because they were made using such old, limited data. The only seismic data re-examined was from the mid-1980s when only 2-dimensional technology was available. Since collection of seismic data in ANWR may require an act of Congress, this was the only information of its kind for the 1002 area.
Seismic exploration was approved in eleven national refuges in 1996 alone. And a year ago the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service approved 3-D seismic inside the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge, declaring it would have no significant impact on the refuge. As Senator Murkowski says … "If it's good enough for one refuge, why isn't it good enough for the other?"
'Midnight Sun' borough mayor says no harm will befall land from oil drilling
(The following is a speech that North Slope Borough Mayor Ben Nageak delivered recently to the National Association of Counties. NACo represents nearly 1,800 counties in the U.S., providing a collective voice on issues relevant to local governments. The association holds four major conferences each year including the Western Interstate Region (WR) Conference, which focuses on public lands. Nageak was the keynote speaker for the 1998 WR Conference held May 20-23 in Juneau, Alaska.)
My
name is Ben Nageak. I am an Inupiat Eskimo from Alaska's North Slope.
This presentation about the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge will give
you an overview of one of the most difficult issues we are grappling with
in Alaska today. It is an issue that … in one form or another … is dealt
with by each and every one of you. And that issue is: Who has the right
to determine local land use? How much authority should the federal government
have to tie up valuable economic resources in our states and counties.
The issue is also about whether resource development can occur within
safe parameters that protect the land and the animals on it.
Before I go into any details about ANWR, let me give you a brief introduction to the land my family and I have called home for thousands of years. My Municipality, the North Slope Borough, is the size of Minnesota. It covers almost 90,000 square miles from the Brooks Range of mountains to the south, to the Beaufort Sea to the north. It stretches from the Chukchi Sea on our western coast to the Canadian border on our eastern boundary. It has the sweep and vastness that Texas brags about, but Alaska owns.
News Notes:
America's future leaders support ANWR development
A 17-year-old Alaskan managed to get a pro-ANWR resolution passed during the July annual meeting of Boy's Nation, a civic program that exposes high school seniors to state and federal government operations. The 96 participants (two from 48 states) introduced and debated over 150 bills and resolutions; 16 passed, including the ANWR resolution introduced by George Clark from Anchorage. All Boy's Nation actions were forwarded to President Clinton for use as a barometer of issues important to America's youth.
Tracking the Opposition
Society seeks 100 million more acres of wilderness
Even though Alaska has 60% of the nation's wilderness areas (57 million acres),the Wilderness Society says it is working to get another 100 million acres of Alaska wildands designated as wilderness. One tactic is to name ANWR as one of the nation's "most endangered wildlands."
Foundation grants $80,000 for anti-oil campaign
The Brainerd Foundation has awarded $40,000 in 1998 and in 1999 to the U.S. Public Interest Resarch Group Education Fund in Washington, DC. Money will be used to conduct a national oil company accountability campaign to compliment efforts to permanently close ANWR to petroleum development.
Migrating musicians to "protect" caribou, culture
A band of Canadian artists and musicians are trekking after the Porcupine Caribou herd this summer in the hopes of creating a campaign to show oil development as a force that will destroy wildlife and the native culture. Photographers, composers and other artists will traverse the north slope of ANWR, capturing the caribou and culture in pictures and song. The three-month "Caribou Commons" project will culminate in a multi-media tour across North America, beginning in February 1999.
