Alaska's Energy Resources ,' . -' . Gene Rutledge Alaska R~sources . s Y' & lnfonnauon SefVlCC TJ Anchorage, Alaska 163.25 .A4 R87 1985 Tools of the E h. t I·""'--,- f k A E . ac 1s an 1n egra part o your wor . t xecut1ve Travel, our tools are organization and the ability to Tirade get the job done. We specialize in meeting all of your travel needs, from booking single flights to planning a complete itinerary-with all the-nuts and bolts thrown in at no cost to you. ARLIS . Alaska Resources Executive Travel Serv1ce Libracy&Jn«n:ma:UO~:,Servtces Anchorage: (907) 562-2324 Anctw~:~'~ka Prudhoe Bay: (907) 659-2502 Fairbanks: (907) 452-3285 ~ EXecutive- I - Travel Service HEAD OFFICE: 1102 W.INT'L AIRPORT RD., ANCHORAGE, ALASKA 99502, (907) 562-2324 PRUDHOE BAY TRAVEL OFFICE, POUCH 340118, PRUDHOE BAY, ALASKA 99734, (907) 659-2502 FAIRBANKS TRAVEL OFFICE, 431 OLD STEESE HWY. FAIRBANKS, ALASKA 9970 I (907) 452-3285 Alaska's Energy Resources . '. : .- ' .. -..: ~ ' Gene Rutledge ARLIS Alaska Resources Library & Information SerVices Anchorage, Alaska "An 80 by 35 mile area on the North Slope contains at least 60 billion barrels of original oil in place, less than half of which is in the Prudhoe Bay and Kuparuk River lields." ARCO 1984 Annual Report © 1985 by Wolfe Business Services 6930 Oakwood Anchorage, Alaska 99507 (907) 349-4979 All rights reserved. First printing. Printed in the United States of America. International Standard Book Number: 0-932571-00-X ~Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 85-51155 ' TABLE OF CONTENTS Title Page .................................................... i Table of Contents ............................................. iii Preface ....................................................... v . .. 0 verv1ew ..................................................... VII Part I: Hydroelectric Power .................................... 1.1 Part II: .Coal .................................................. II.1 Part III: Wind and Geothermal ................................. 111.1 Part IV: Natural Gas ............. ~ ............................ IV.1 Part V: Solar and Alternate Energy .............................. V .1 Part VI: Oil.................................................. VI.1 Note: Each part has a 1985 update followed by the verbatim text of "The Alaska's Energy Resources'' monthly supplement of the Journal of Commerce, in­ cluding the original page numbers. ARLIS Alaska Resources Library & Information SerVices 1\nchorage,Alaska lll ··~· ALASKA REGION ENERGY RESOURCES PLANNING PROJECT {PHASE 1) ALASKA'S ENERGY RESOURCES SUMMARY CHAPTERS b.nm land Mas$ (16.2%) Population (0.15%) 10 20 30 40 50 60 Percent Resource in Alaska compared with· USA OCTOBER 1977 PREFACE The Alaska Regional. Energy reduce them in size from tabloid to Resource Planning Project 8 Yz by 11. To the extent possible (ARERPP) team compiled and the text is verbatim; however, the published five volumes on Alaska's number of pages was reduced by energy resources during the 1976 to editing out some advertisements so 1979 time period. The content of that sometimes two AER pages are these publications covered not on­ combined into one. Since the six ly the quantity, quality and loca­ supplements were published from tion of Alaska's energy resources; January to June, 1984, the decision but also the issues associated with was made to update each supple­ moving the energy resources from ment to reflect the May, 1985 where nature deposited them to an publication date. end~user. This project began in the It is recognized that while the Office of the Governor in 1976 reduction in size of the supplements with funding from the federal makes handling much easier, it also Department ofEnergy. makes reading more difficult, There was serious concern on my especially for a few of the maps part as project leader that the peo­ and tables. A complete set of the ple and organizations interested in six original supplements has these volumes for future reference therefore been collected and bound would not be able to obtain copies and given to the Alaska Resource because the publication budget was Library for filing with the limited. The decision was made to AHERPI' fiw volunw:-<. advertise the volumes prior to This booklet is not a formal publication so ·that for a very scholarly publication. It is design­ modest cost all those who wanted ed to be a very useful reference that copies could obtain them. Many re­ will easily fit the bookshelves of quests were received. engineers, scientists, economists, After publication it became evi­ architects, researchers, politicians, dent that the demand for the students and many others. The volumes was much greater than ..., many prepublication requests for prepublication requests indicated. the book indicate that others also Many requests went unfilled. For­ believe that this book will be a tunately, copies of all five volumes useful addition to their book­ are available for use in the Federal shelves. Building at the Alaska Resources It should be noted that the AER · Library. supplements to the Alaska Journal For a number of years there was of Commerce were written and a desire on my part to trim these compiled by the undersigned; volumes down to a more manage­ however, that does not mean a able size and publish the contents 1000Jo control of all the words by in a format acceptable to more any means. For example, the readers. Such an effort was in­ cutlines under the photographs and itiated in January of 1984 in a sup­ the headlines of the text were usual­ plement to the Alaska Journal of ly selected by others. It was Bert Commerceand ended June, 198~. Tarrant, editor and part owner of The six monthly supplements, en­ Pacific Rim Publishing Company, titled "Alaska's Energy Resourc~ who coined the words "energy es" (AER), covered hydroelectric dean'' in the first issue of the AER power' coal, wind and geothermal, series, an unexpected, somewhat natural ·gas, solar· and oil. Even accurate, but certainly flattering though several hundred extra title. copies were printed· for each sup­ plement, it soon became evident ·again that demand was greater tha~ anticipated. · I The decision was made to com" pile and edit the supplements and Gene P. Rutledge v Earth Energy Systems Inc;. 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Earth Energy Systems, Inc. 250 Prairie Center Drive, Suite 390 Eden Prairie, MN 55344 (612)830-7200 Telex 29-0753 DYNA TECH MPS OVERVIEW Prior to the publication of Alaska represents an area tar­ the five volumes of the Alaska geted by the oil industry with Regional Energy Resources many millions already spent Planning Project (ARERPP) in on exploration and many, 1977-1979, it was widely known many more millions planned. that Alaska was blessed with The ARERPP report indicat­ huge quantities of energy re­ es that the measured reserves sources. There· was a need to of oil onshore is 32.06 percent. explain to a reader the magni­ The percentage changes year tude of our energy resources to year, butnotethatitis twice compared with something that that of the land mass. could be easily understood. To The Alaska onshore gas re­ gain a proper p~rspective, the serves are reported to be 15.77 ·decision was made to compare percent that of the entire Uni­ our resources and reserves with ted States. This percentage is the rest of the United States about the same as the land and the World. mass (16.2 percent). For comparison some per­ The coal resources are report­ centages are given below. The ed to be 37 to 63 percent of the land mass of Alaska is 16.2 entire U.S. Note carefully that percent of that of the entire the ARERPP report switched United States. A note of cau­ from "reserves" to "resources" tion with respect to this com­ for the coal comparison. To parison is needed. Alaska has move from the term "resource" huge offshore areas because of to "reserve" requires the ex­ such an enormous coastline. penditure of exploration funds The precise square miles invol­ to quantify the quality and ved not only is a function of location of the resource, i.e. the definition - three miles out boundary and depth, and re­ or 12 miles out or something source companies do not make else - but also the location of ... these up front costs until a the United States/Soviet Union market for the resource is in Border. sight. Work is now underway to The coal "reserves" in Alaska resolve the border difference of as compared with the entire opinion.