Six wildcats were completed or suspended and 6 federal and state lease sales were held in Alaska in 1988. The primary areas of interest continued to be the North Slope and the Beaufort Sea. Cook Inlet had a resurgence of exploration activity in 1988. The Bering Sea has held little interest since the last wells were drilled in 1985, except for the opening of bids in the long delayed North Aleutian Sale 92.

Exploration in the Beaufort Sea has shifted to the east with the drilling of 2 wells. Onshore exploration continued to be confined to the central North Slope with the drilling of 2 wildcats. Cook Inlet drilling comprised the remaining wildcat activity.

Three federal OCS sales were held in 1988. The first, Beaufort Sea Sale 97, was the third area-wide sale. The Chukchi Sea Sale 109 was a first offering and the last of the offshore frontier areas to be offered for leasing. The third lease sale, in the North Aleutian Planning Area, was held over from 1986 as litigation against the sale was finally resolved. Three state lease sales were held, one of which was the highly controversial Demarcation Point Sale 55 in state waters adjacent to the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and the Chevron 1 Jago River (KIC) well. The other state sales were conducted on acreage around the Prudhoe Bay-Kuparuk area.