One of America's last, large frontier onshore hydrocarbon exploration provinces, the vast National Petroleum Reserve in northern Alaska, continues to offer considerable hydrocarbon potential. Although commercial discoveries of oil and natural gas have yet to be found, many significant prospects remain. Several structural features have been tested, but the most promising future prospects appear to be stratigraphic.

The federal government, first through the U.S. Navy and now under the U.S. Geological Survey, has amassed a very competent, dedicated staff and a tremendous amount of excellent exploration data. The data are currently being integrated into many private industry exploration programs and files through the public release of hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of new geophysical and geologic data. Both government and private industry must continue to maintain a very positive exploration "attitude" toward this important area.

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