WI: Prudhoe Bay Oil Field Discovered Earlier

Delta Force

Banned
Petroleum exploration of the North Slope started in the 1960s, and in March 1968 the Prudhoe Bay Oil Field was discovered. It is the largest conventional petroleum deposit in North America, and first came online in June 1977, with production peaking at almost a million barrels per day in 1985.

What if Prudhoe Bay had been discovered earlier? Would it have been developed earlier too? Presumably the energy companies wouldn't have been investigating the North Slope if they had no intention to start production soon. Also, what kind of impact would it have on the 1970s energy crises if it entered production earlier, perhaps in 1973 or 1974? Historically, production from Alaska caused United States petroleum production to temporarily plateau and hit a second smaller peak.

US_Crude_Oil_Production_and_Imports.png
 
I thought you meant the Prudhoe in Northumberland. It might be good for the local economy.

It might do more harm than good for the British economy as a whole because more British industry might be wiped out during the Petropound Era.

And there might be Northumbrian Nationalist Party members proclaiming, "It's our oil!"
 

Delta Force

Banned
I thought you meant the Prudhoe in Northumberland. It might be good for the local economy.

It might do more harm than good for the British economy as a whole because more British industry might be wiped out during the Petropound Era.

And there might be Northumbrian Nationalist Party members proclaiming, "It's our oil!"

There's a Prudhoe Bay Oil Field in the United Kingdom?
 
There's a Prudhoe Bay Oil Field in the United Kingdom?

No. It's my dry sense of humour.

The Prudhoe in the UK is about 20 miles inland.

However, it might be on a coalfield. Durham and Northumberland were once very important coal mining areas. That's how the railways were invented. The coal owners wanted a better way to transport their coal in bulk to the ports.
 
PS to my knowledge there is no Northumbrian Nationalist Party either. That was an allusion to the Scottish Nationalist Party and the North Sea Oil.
 
If Prudhoe Bay comes online a few years earlier around the time of the 1973 Energy Crisis, might there be more support for petroleum and natural gas production in the Naval Petroleum Reserve-Alaska and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge?

Nope. Because there's no way you can afford to build the sucker until prices skyrocket in 1973.

However, they might START building it then, and allow drilling in the Wildlife Refuge.

So, basically, probably, I suppose.
 

Delta Force

Banned
Nope. Because there's no way you can afford to build the sucker until prices skyrocket in 1973.

However, they might START building it then, and allow drilling in the Wildlife Refuge.

So, basically, probably, I suppose.

Unless 1960s/1970s Alaska state law was different from current federal practices (Prudhoe Bay is Alaskan state land), the companies must have expected to begin producing anything they found in a few years. Leases are relinquished if companies don't do anything with the land in a designated period of time in order to prevent firms from manipulating the market by sitting on leases they have no intention of bringing to production.
 
Unless 1960s/1970s Alaska state law was different from current federal practices (Prudhoe Bay is Alaskan state land), the companies must have expected to begin producing anything they found in a few years. Leases are relinquished if companies don't do anything with the land in a designated period of time in order to prevent firms from manipulating the market by sitting on leases they have no intention of bringing to production.

Interestingly, ARCO did exploration with no clear way to get the oil and gas out. Of course, there were options being explored, like the icebreaker tanker Manhattan (which proved infeasible), and the Boeing RC-1, which would have been possible if jet fuel prices had stayed down.

The mind boggles at that plane.
 

Delta Force

Banned
Interestingly, ARCO did exploration with no clear way to get the oil and gas out. Of course, there were options being explored, like the icebreaker tanker Manhattan (which proved infeasible), and the Boeing RC-1, which would have been possible if jet fuel prices had stayed down.

The mind boggles at that plane.

So essentially the exploration of Alaska hinged on there being North Sea levels of petroleum in the area to warrant a North Sea level technology and infrastructure program to allow it to be brought to market?
 
Top