Intensive and extensive exploration for oil took place in northern Alaska in 1949, under the auspices of the United States Navy. Geophysical prospecting and drilling were within the boundary of Naval Petroleum Reserve No. 4, and geological work was partly within the Reserve and partly in adjoining areas. Six geological parties and five geophysical parties were in the field during the 1949 season. The geological parties studied structure and stratigraphy in the Mesozoic outcrop area and in the Paleozoic rocks along the north edge of the Brooks Range. Geophysical parties made detailed seismic surveys in areas of promise in the Arctic Coastal Plain region and made reconnaissance surveys over more extensive parts of the Coastal Plain. A gravity survey was also made of an area in the northwestern part of the Petroleum Reserve. Four test wells were drilled or being drilled during 1949; two of these reached basement rock at shallow depths on the Barrow high south of Point Barrow, Alaska. South Barrow No. 2 was a successful gas well, and the gas is now being utilized for heating in Camp Barrow. Extensive aerial photography, both vertical and trimetrogon, was accomplished during the 1949 season, and low-angle oblique photographs were taken of important areas in which geologic field parties were working.

The only activity in southern Alaska in 1949 was that of two company field parties and one United States Geological Survey field party, which made background studies in the Alaska Peninsula-Cook Inlet area.