The U.S. Geological Survey has announced a new estimate for the natural gas potential across Alaska’s North Slope. According to the agency, the region might be storing about 96 trillion cubic feet of technically recoverable natural gas.
“It's roughly three times the size of the known gas accumulations on the Alaska North Slope,” Alicia Lindauer, a coordinator for the agency’s energy resources program, said during a virtual press conference on Wednesday.
Lindauer said that’s almost as much gas as the nation consumes over three years.
Agency officials said the number is an estimate of undiscovered natural gas resources — meaning a resource that has not yet been found by drilling. Officials said the North Slope stores roughly 35 trillion cubic feet of proven gas reserves that have been found by drilling.
Bill Craddock, a USGS geologist who led the assessment, said the new estimate is in line with what geologists have previously thought about North Slope resources.
“I would regard this as our sort of best estimate of the gas resource across the province,” Craddock said.
The new estimate accounts for such developments as Willow and Pikka, Craddock said.
The oil and gas industry is a big part of Alaska's economy. Alaska’s North Slope accounts for approximately 97% of Alaska's oil production, according to the agency.
Officials said at the press conference that USGS regularly conducts and updates its assessments of natural resources.
Assistant Secretary of the Interior Andrea Travnicek said in a press release that the new assessment supports President Trump’s executive order aimed at boosting Alaska’s energy production.
“Alaska’s untapped, abundant energy and mineral resources are needed for U.S. economic and national security, and for the benefit of Alaskans,” Travnicek said.
USGS officials said their assessments do not estimate whether resources can be extracted profitably.
