Naval Petroleum Reserve No. 4 was designated as the

End_Page 715------------------------------

National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska by the Naval Petroleum Reserves Act of 1976 and jurisdiction was transferred to the Secretary of the Interior. Beginning June 1, 1977, the U.S. Geological Survey was charged with the responsibility to (1) continue the petroleum exploration program, (2) expand production of natural gas at Barrow for local consumption, and (3) environmentally rehabilitate those parts of the reserve disturbed by previous exploration and construction activities.

All of these activities are accomplished through a contract with Husky Oil NPR Operations, Inc.; the activities were previously supervised by the U.S. Navy in 1975 and were assumed in 1977 by the Department of the Interior. The U.S. Geological Survey provides technical and contract supervision and makes the final determination of the exploration strategy. Sixteen plays have been defined on the basis of geological and geophysical parameters to assess the petroleum potential and aid in management and land-use decisions.

From 1974 to June 1, 1977, the Navy drilled seven test wells and completed 7,680 line mi (12,360 line km) of a planned 26-well and 10,000 line-mi (16,093 line km) seismic program. All test wells were drilled in northern NPRA along trend with Prudhoe Bay. At the W. T. Foran test well on the Arctic Coast, the Sadlerochit Formation (the principal reservoir at Prudhoe) had good porosity and permeability with residual oil. The other wells had minor shows of oil and/or gas.

Twelve test wells were included in the program for fiscal years 1978 and 1979. Eight have been completed with shows of oil and gas; the J. W. Dalton well on the Arctic Coast produced a few barrels of heavy oil, but there were no commercial discoveries. A five-well exploration program is projected for fiscal year, 1980.

One exploratory and two development gas wells were drilled at Barrow in 1978. The two producible wells in a new section of the Barrow gas district were tied into the pipeline system that delivers gas to the Barrow communities.

End_of_Article - Last_Page 716------------