State Regulatory Controls on Oil & Gas

• Main Author: Marshall, Thomas R., Jr.
• Format: Text
• Language: unknown
• Published: Scholars' Mine 1971
• Subjects: Geology; Geophysics and Seismology; Mining Engineering; Petroleum Engineering; Prudhoe Bay; Alaska
• Online Access: https://scholarsmine.mst.edu/umr-journal/vol2/iss1/17; https://scholarsmine.mst.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1025&context=umr-journal

Alaska oil and gas regulatory matters are under the jurisdiction of a three-man Oil and Gas Conservation Committee, all of which are state employees. In the last 10 years State water bottoms in Cook Inlet have been leased, explored and oil production amounting to about 200,000 barrels a day has been established. Cook Inlet is subject to very high tides and heavy ice flows. Five Salmon runs also occur in the Cook Inlet. The average daily production rate per well in the Cook Inlet area is nearly one hundred times the national average. The Prudhoe Bay oil field discovered in 1968 is the largest oil field in North America. It lies entirely on State land. After public hearing, the Committee prescribed 640-acre spacing for two of the thicker reservoirs and detailed many safety and operational requirements. The orders prohibited the flaring of gas except for operational necessities. Over 40 wells have now been completed in this field but a pipeline has not been approved. The State of Alaska looks forward to the challenge of proper development of a resource valuable to the State and the Nation.