Comparison of six assessments of the hydrocarbon resources of the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska
During the period 1968-1980, six assessments of the undiscovered petroleum resources in the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska (NPRA) were commissioned by various U.S. Government agencies. In this chapter, each of the six assessments is summarized, and the resulting estimates are compared to answer the following questions: (1) How do hydrocarbon resource estimates from the latest assessment, which employs the recently developed U.S. Department of the interior play-analysis method, compare with previous estimates (2) What, if anything, can be learned from the comparison Selected for inclusion in this chapter are those Government estimates that were based on systematic analyses of the data and that have been documented in a report. These six assessments all post-date the discovery of the Prudhoe Bay field in 1968 and can be considered an indirect result of that discovery-the largest known hydrocarbon accumulation in North America. Because of the proximity of the NPRA to the Prudhoe Bay field (about 60 mi or 100 km) and the size of the reserve (37,000 mi{sup 2}, or nearly half of the North Slope petroleum province), Government interest in the petroleum potential of the reserve was renewed. Initially, only two independent resource estimates were requested-one to be made by the Department of Interior (U.S. Geological Survey) and the other by the Department of the Navy (Office of Naval Petroleum and Oil Shale Reserves). Government exploration of the reserve resumed in 1974, after a 21-year hiatus, and legislation of 1975 and 1976 authorized an evaluation and economic analysis of the petroleum potential of the reserve. The other four of the six assessments are the results of this legislation. This chapter describes each assessment-the assessor, the available data, and the assessment method. The results of the assessments are then summarized, compared, and discussed.
- OSTI ID:
- 6911770
- Journal Information:
- United States Geological Survey, Professional Paper; (USA), Journal Name: United States Geological Survey, Professional Paper; (USA)
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
ALASKA
STRATEGIC PETROLEUM RESERVE
RESOURCE ASSESSMENT
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
CALCULATION METHODS
DATA ANALYSIS
ECONOMIC ANALYSIS
EVALUATION
FORECASTING
LEGISLATION
PETROLEUM
PRUDHOE BAY
RESOURCE POTENTIAL
US DOD
US GS
ARCTIC OCEAN
BAYS
BEAUFORT SEA
ECONOMICS
ENERGY SOURCES
FEDERAL REGION X
FOSSIL FUELS
FUELS
NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
NORTH AMERICA
RESERVES
RESOURCES
SEAS
SURFACE WATERS
US DOI
US ORGANIZATIONS
USA
020200* - Petroleum- Reserves
Geology
& Exploration