USGS estimates 5.5 tcf of gas, 173 million barrels of oil in Yukon Flats region

The U.S. Geological Survey said today that it has completed a new assessment of undiscovered oil and gas resources in the Yukon Flats region of east-central Alaska, and estimates 5.5 trillion cubic feet of undiscovered, but technically recoverable, natural gas, 173 million barrels of undiscovered, but technically recoverable, oil, and 127 million barrels of natural gas liquids in conventional accumulations.

Technically recoverable resources are the amount that may be recovered using current technology.

Yukon Flats, some 100 miles northeast of Fairbanks and east of the trans-Alaska pipeline, is some 13,500 square miles in which the major landowners are the federal government, the state of Alaska and Native corporations and villages.

The USGS said its assessment is based on available geological, geophysical and geochemical evidence, “including new information obtained by recent USGS field and laboratory studies.

“This work found strong evidence for the existence of potential source rocks and reservoirs of oil and gas in Yukon Flats,” the agency said. The USGS said the one exploration well drilled in the area found small quantities of natural gas, but no petroleum production has occurred from the Yukon Flats region.

Editor’s note: See story in Dec. 26 issue of Petroleum News.