Post by Logan on Mar 3, 2016 4:16:46 GMT -6
NUIQSUT, Alaska — Rising from the edgeless, wind-scoured, snow-covered tundra on Alaska's North Slope lies a million-pound drilling rig pulling the first commercial oil from a reserve set aside nearly a century ago.
ConocoPhillips is the first oil company to draw crude from the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, an area the size of Indiana which President Warren G. Harding dedicated as an emergency oil supply for the U.S. Navy in 1923.
Getting to this point took compromises with Alaska Natives while keeping environmental concerns in mind. The Bureau of Land Management, which controls the reserve, in 2013 identified 12 million acres that could be available for development while setting aside 11 million acres to protect wild animals and grazing lands.
The drilling rig first began pulling up oil in October, and at peak production will produce 16,000 barrels a day from the Colville-Delta 5 field, or as it's more commonly known, CD5. It also will serve as a launch pad for another nearby fields in Alaska's Arctic.
Read more: lasvegassun.com/news/2016/mar/03/first-oil-flows-from-alaska-reserve-set-aside-in-2/
ConocoPhillips is the first oil company to draw crude from the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, an area the size of Indiana which President Warren G. Harding dedicated as an emergency oil supply for the U.S. Navy in 1923.
Getting to this point took compromises with Alaska Natives while keeping environmental concerns in mind. The Bureau of Land Management, which controls the reserve, in 2013 identified 12 million acres that could be available for development while setting aside 11 million acres to protect wild animals and grazing lands.
The drilling rig first began pulling up oil in October, and at peak production will produce 16,000 barrels a day from the Colville-Delta 5 field, or as it's more commonly known, CD5. It also will serve as a launch pad for another nearby fields in Alaska's Arctic.
Read more: lasvegassun.com/news/2016/mar/03/first-oil-flows-from-alaska-reserve-set-aside-in-2/