Prudhoe Bay oil field History 📜

Prudhoe Bay Oil Field Discovery Well Site U.S. National Register of Historic Places Alaska Heritage Resources Survey

• Location: About 1.5 miles (2.4 km) northwest of Putuligayuk River mouth, along western shore of Prudhoe Bay 
• Nearest city: Prudhoe Bay 
• Coordinates: 70°19′27″N 148°32′28″W (https://geohack.toolforge.org/geohack.php?pagename=Prudhoe_Bay_Oil_Field&params=70.32408_N_148.54116_W_type:landmark_region:US-AK) 
• Area: less than one acre 
• Built: 1967
• Built by: Atlantic Richfield Corporation; Humble Oil Company 
• NRH reference No: 00000264 (https://npgallery.nps.gov/AssetDetail/NRIS/00000264[20]
• AHRS No: XBP-00056 
• Added to NRHP: March 23, 2000 

Caribou near Prudhoe Bay, 1973

1971 aerial photo of the oil fields by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service.

Roger MacBride touring the oil field facilities during his 1976 presidential campaign.

The area was originally identified as a potential oil field and selected in the early 1960s as part of

the 100 million acres the federal government allotted to the new state of Alaska under the

Alaska Statehood Act as a form of economic support. Tom Marshall, a key state employee

tasked with selecting the 100 million acres, said the geology reminded him of big oil basins he'd

seen in Wyoming.

[21][22] Commercial oil exploration started in Prudhoe Bay area in the 1960s and,

after a number of fruitless years, a rig produced a natural gas flare in December 1967. The oil

field was confirmed on March 12, 1968, by Humble Oil (which later became part of Exxon) and

Atlantic Richfield Company (ARCO), with the well Prudhoe Bay State #1.

[1][4][23] ARCO was the

operating partner.

[24] Drilling sites for the discovery and confirmation wells were staked by

geologist Marvin Mangus. BP was among the companies that had been active in the region, and

BP was able to establish itself as a major player in the western part of the Prudhoe field.

[1] The

field was initially operated as two separate developments, the BP Western Operating Area and

the ARCO Eastern Operating Area. Upon acquisition of ARCO by BP and sale of ARCO Alaska

assets to Phillips Petroleum in 2000, the two operating areas were consolidated and BP became

the sole operator of the field.

[1][25]:slide 4

In 1974 the State of Alaska's Division of Geological &

Geophysical Surveys estimated that the field held 10 billion barrels (1.6 × 10

9 m3

) of oil and

26 trillion cubic feet (740 ×10

9 m3

) of natural gas.

[26] Production did not begin until June 20,

1977 when the Alaska Pipeline was completed.

[1]

The site of the field's discovery was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2000,

and has a commemorative marker. A well was operated at that site until 1985.

[27]

Operations

The field was initially operated as two separate developments, the BP Western Operating Area

(WOA: Oil Rim) and the ARCO Eastern Operating Area (EOA: Gas Cap). Upon acquisition of ARCO

by BP and sale of ARCO Alaska assets to Phillips Petroleum in 2000, the two operating areas

were consolidated and BP became the sole operator of the field.

[25]:slide 4

In the field, oil is moved through pipelines from about 1000 wells to a pumping station at the

head of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline; "flow lines" carry oil from the wells to local processing

centers, then through "transit lines" to the pumping station.

[25]:slides 4a-d According to a 2007

recording of BP representative, to replace the "huge volume of material" BP removes from

beneath the ground, sea water is injected that is collected from Prudhoe Bay, Alaska.

[28]

Production

North Slope oil production peaked in 1989 at 2 million barrels per day (320 ×103 m3/d) (Greater Prudhoe Bay: 1.5 million barrels per day (240 ×103 m3/d), but had fallen to 943,000 barrels per day (149,900 m3/d) in 2005,

[29] while Greater Prudhoe averaged 411,000 barrels per day (65,300 m3/d) in December, 2006 and Prudhoe itself averaged 285,000 barrels per day (45,300 m3/d).

[30] Total production from 1977 through 2005 was 11 billion barrels (1.7 ×109 m3).

As of August 2006, BP estimated that 2 billion barrels (320 ×106 m3) of recoverable oil remain and can be recovered with current technology.

[1][31]

Associated oil fields