An engaged Alaskan democracy

Tim Bradner: Lots of Oil Remains on North Slope

April 8, 2014, Tim Bradner, Anchorage Daily News

How much oil is left on the North Slope? Will the tank run dry?

We need to know. A third of our state’s economy depends on oil, according to University of Alaska studies. Oil pays for 90 percent of our state budget too.

The short answer to this is no – there’s lots of oil. A more complete answer, though, is that it also depends on the economics.

It’s very unlikely we’ll find any more super-giant deposits like the Prudhoe Bay and Kuparuk River fields. We can find a lot of smaller fields, though.

These will be expensive, and less profitable than big fields, and that’s where the economics come in.

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