Petroleum Plays and Systems in the National Petroleum Reserve - Alaska

The North Slope of Alaska has re-emerged as one of the most active exploration provinces in the United States. Recent exploration successes, economic benefits of applying innovative exploration and production technologies, evolving industry demographics, rising oil and natural gas prices, and the anticipation that North Slope natural gas resources may become economically viable and marketable through a planned pipeline have stimulated a renewed intensity in leasing and exploration activity. The focus of NPRA exploration appears to include both structural and stratigraphic objectives that may include strata spanning much of the stratigraphic column. The purpose of the core workshop is to prove an opportunity to examine a large collection of core from all major stratigraphic units present in NPRA. The chapters in this volume provide a current perspective on the genesis and petroleum potential of each stratigraphic interval.
Framework Geology, Petroleum Systems, and Play Concepts of the National Petroleum Reserve – Alaska Available to Purchase
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Published:January 01, 2001
Abstract
The NPRA is a significant part of the north Alaskan petroleum province, a lightly explored region that is estimated to hold more than one-third of total U.S. undiscovered, technically recoverable, oil and natural gas resources based on the most recent U.S. Department of the Interior (USGS & MMS) estimates (Bird, 1999). The NPRA is a geologically complex region that includes prospective strata within passive margin, rift, and foreland basin sequences. Multiple source rock horizons have charged several regionally extensive petroleum systems. A variety of plays are present involving extensional and compressional structures and stratigraphic traps in shelf and turbidite systems.