Summary: | Production from the Prudhoe Bayfield, which contains the largest accumulation of oil ever discovered in North America, commenced in 1977. While the spectacular construction of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline was taking place, the drilling and production crews worked at an incredible pace to prepare the field to supply the pipeline's estimated 1.5 million b/d capacity. During the past 10 years of operations a considerable amount of subsurface data has been collected on the Pemo-Triassic reservoirs. These reservoirs are contained in the following formations, in decending order, the Sag River Formation, the Shublik Formation, and the Ivishak Sandstone. Most of the fields' hydrocarbons are contained in the Ivishak Sandstone reservoir of the Sadlerochit Group. Through the availability of these subsurface data, this paper describes the geological and petro-physical aspects of the main Prudhoe Bay reservoirs. No embargo
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