Alaska Oil and Gas Reserve Potentials are Higher than Estimated

The U.S. Geological Survey recently reported that Alaska’s National Petroleum Reserve and adjacent lands have close to 8.7 billion barrels of recoverable oil, much more than the original 2010 estimate of 1.5 million barrels.

The revised numbers also show an estimated 25 trillion cubic feet of natural gas in the NPR-A, located on Alaska’s North Slope. In totality, the USGS estimated that there is about 17.6 billion barrels of oil in both the NPR-A, Western Beaufort Sea and adjacent lands.

Besides oil in Alaska, a partnership between Federal and State governmental agencies and the Government of Japan was formed to explore the natural gas hydrate potential of the state. Natural gas hydrates are hydrocarbons which have solid crystalline structures filled with super-concentrated methane gas. This research is focused on the Alaska North Slope, where a previous 2008 USGS assessment of undiscovered gas hydrate resources estimated that 85.4 trillion cubic feet of natural gas could be recovered.

Congress’ recently passed tax reform bill includes a provision to allow for drilling in ANWR. However it will likely be many years before oil is potentially extracted.

To read more about the rich reserves of Alaska for oil, please visit https://energy.usgs.gov/GeneralInfo/EnergyNewsroomAll/TabId/770/ArtMID/3941/ArticleID/1342/New-Interior-Department-Survey-Shows-Significant-Increase-in-Recoverable-Energy-Resources-in-Federal-State-and-Tribal-Lands-and-Waters-in-Alaska.aspx and for natural gas hydrates, visit: https://www.usgs.gov/news/exploring-gas-hydrates-a-future-energy-source