ANWR and NPR-A: what does the future hold for these two areas?

• Author: Liles, Patricia

In its 29th year of full-scale oil production, Alaska's maturing North Slope fields continue to pump a steady but declining supply of crude oil, which flows southward to in-state and Outside refineries through the trans-Alaska oil pipeline.

State production and revenue forecasters closely monitor that ever-dwindling North Slope resource, as Alaska's governmental finances are largely dependent on the oil flow. The best opportunities to supplement the existing North Slope resources, which include the gigantic Prudhoe Bay field and its neighboring Kuparuk field, can be found in two outlying areas, many miles from the well-developed North Slope oil and gas infrastructure.

To the west lies the 23-million-acre National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, a well-known oil and gas resource that industry is currently probing, albeit at a slow pace. A handful of exploration wells have been drilled in NPR-A in recent years, and federal land managers continue the process of opening up additional acreage for leasing.

To the east of Prudhoe Bay and its infrastructure lies the fiercely debated 18-million-acre Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, also believed to contain vast supplies of oil and gas in its coastal region. Drilling in ANWR has become a political football on a national level, evidenced by the late 2005 showdown in the U.S. Senate, which again rejected a measure that would allow development on the Alaska coastal plain.

Whether either of these outlining areas will eventually offer oil and gas production to help fill some of the spare capacity in Alaska's North Slope energy infrastructure remains to be seen. One thing is for sure-production from existing North Slope fields continues to decline, even as industry targets small pockets of oil near infrastructure; continues to branch out toward the west and NPR-A; and works to develop larger, more technically challenging accumulations of heavy oil.

Gov. Frank Murkowski, who also unsuccessfully fought for approval to drill in ANWR during his tenure as a U.S. Senator, described the area's potential impact to the state of Alaska in a November press statement. "While our nation will enjoy greater energy independence by oil exploration in a small portion of ANWR, Alaskans will benefit from the jobs and revenue that will funnel to quality schools and vital infrastructure improvements," Murkowski said. "We've got good reason to believe that the small 1002 area holds the greatest prospects for the next Prudhoe Bay-sized discovery."

ANWR BACKGROUND, NEW ESTIMATES

Set aside as a wildlife refuge in 1980 by the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act, ANWR requires specific congressional authority to develop, turning the remote region of Alaska into a hot volleyball court for a spirited and often contentious national public debate.

Even at the time of the land withdrawal, the coastal region of the 18-million-acre...