Watching Government Alaskan opportunity

With Patrick Crow from Washington, D.C. [email protected] Interior Sec. Bruce Babbitt has begun a planning process for leasing the northeastern corner of the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (NPR-A) west of Prudhoe Bay field. The 18-month planning effort, which will require preparation of an environmental impact statement, will determine if there are areas suitable for oil and gas leasing and what protections are needed for wildlife and habitat resources. Interior will announce details of the

Jan. 20, 1997

3 min read

Interior Sec. Bruce Babbitt has begun a planning process for leasing the northeastern corner of the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (NPR-A) west of Prudhoe Bay field.

The 18-month planning effort, which will require preparation of an environmental impact statement, will determine if there are areas suitable for oil and gas leasing and what protections are needed for wildlife and habitat resources.

Interior will announce details of the planning process within a month. Any lease sales are unlikely before 1999.

Babbitt said, "The resources of the northeast area of NPR-A have become of greater interest in recent years as oil and gas development approached the reserve's eastern boundary."

Interior said the planning process would include the NPR-A area north of Umiat and west from the Colville River boundary to Ikpikpuk River.

"This section of the petroleum reserve is also rich in wildlife and waterfowl resources, including highly significant waterfowl nesting areas and the calving area for the Teshekpuk caribou herd," he said.

Alpine find

The 23 million-acre NPR-A lies between the crest of Brooks Range and the Arctic Ocean. It was established in 1923 and saw some exploration in the 1940s and 1950s that led to development of a few fields.

Interior was given the discretion to lease the reserve in 1981, and the Bureau of Land Management held four lease sales during 1983-1985. No leases from the sales were actively developed, and all have since expired.

But last October, three oil companies disclosed an oil discovery on the western border of the reserve.

Alpine field, in the Colville River delta next to NPR-A, is estimated to hold 250-300 million bbl of crude. Developers of the field will be ARCO Alaska, Anadarko Petroleum, and Union Texas Petroleum.

Because of a flurry of recent satellite discoveries in the Prudhoe Bay area, the state of Alaska had urged the Clinton administration to hold another round of leasing in NPR-A.

Any new fields would help replace declining Prudhoe Bay field production and keep the Trans-Alaskan Pipeline System in operation longer.

ANWR comparison

Babbitt stressed that the administration's willingness to lease NPR-A does not signal that it is relenting in its opposition to leasing the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) east of Prudhoe Bay field.

"This administration's philosophy is that there are lands that may be suitable for oil and gas drilling and should be developed in an environmentally and scientifically sound manner.

"At the same time, this administration remains fundamentally opposed to oil and gas development in areas such as ANWR."

In the last session of Congress, Alaska's representatives pressed hard to insert provisions in spending bills to allow ANWR leasing. They failed, but will renew their efforts this year.

If Babbitt thinks that NPR-A leasing will deflate the push to lease ANWR, he's wrong. And now, Alaska's pro-development groups and the oil industry will be asking, "If it's all right to lease west of Prudhoe Bay, why not lease east of Prudhoe Bay, too?"