NATURAL GAS RESOURCES OF ARCTIC ALASKA

HOUSEKNECHT, David W., U.S. Geol Survey, 956 National Center, Reston, VA 20175, [email protected] and BIRD, Kenneth J., U.S. Geological Survey, 345 Middlefield Road, MS 969, Menlo Park, CA 94025

The Arctic Alaska petroleum province, extending from the Russia maritime boundary east to the Canada border and from the Brooks Range north to the Canada Basin, may contain one of the largest endowments of natural gas in North America. Exploration drilling has focused almost exclusively on oil objectives, so the region remains a virtually unexplored frontier for gas resources.

Gas reserves – The Alaska Department of Natural Resources - Division of Oil and Gas estimates that nearly 35 TCF (trillion cubic feet) of proved gas reserves exist in oil fields along the central Arctic coast. Most of these reserves occur in the Prudhoe Bay gas cap (24 TCF) and in the undeveloped Point Thomson accumulation (8 TCF).

Undiscovered, conventional gas resources – The U.S. Geological Survey and Minerals Management Service estimate a recoverable gas resource that totals more than 200 TCF (sum of mean estimates) for Arctic Alaska. Although a large range of uncertainty is associated with these estimates, this gas endowment ranks among the largest of all U.S. petroleum provinces.

Continuous (unconventional) gas resources – Significant potential exists for resources of unconventional gas in Arctic Alaska. These resources may include overpressured gas in low-permeability rocks beneath the foothills of the Brooks Range, natural gas hydrates beneath the North Slope coastal plain and shelf area of the Arctic Ocean, and coalbed gas beneath the northern Alaska foothills and coastal plain. These gas resources have not been quantitatively assessed because of limited understanding of their geology and recoverability.