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Gold/Mining/Energy : Strictly: Drilling and oil-field services -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: isopatch who wrote (81128)	12/9/2000 1:46:38 AM
From: Douglas V. Fant	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 95453

Isopatch, Amen. Now are you aware of the general geology of the North Slope? Basically starting withtthe offshore Mukluk structure in far west North Slope- It turned up dry, just full of water. The oil & gas had previously escaped eons ago. Moving eastward toward Prudhoe Bay, you start encountering lower gravity purely oil fields. As you approach Prudhoe Bay, the oil rises in quality/gravity becoming lighter and gas caps appear. As you move eastward of Prudhoe Bay toward ANWR the oil becomes less prevalent and the fields become more heavily gas. That would initially suggest that ANWR structurescontain only natural gas. However a well drilled just offshore ANWR about 18 months ago came in with high quality oil, which kind of breaks that heavier gravity to lighter gravity trend from west to east across the North Slope. Now within ANWR itself, I have seen the structural interpretations a few years ago. If not changed or reinterpreted, there are approximately 66 elephant-sized structures in ANWR that may contain significant amounts of oil & gas. Of those 66 structures, 22 of the structures appear nearshore or just onshore in the narrow coastal strip. That narrow coastal strip is what would be opened to oil & gas exploration. ANWR itself is massive and extends hundreds of miles to the South. So 90% of ANWR would not be opened to oil & gas exploration at all. Now ethnically, the southern part of ANWR is inhabited by Athabascan Indians who are poor subsistence hunters. They want to be left alone. The coastal strip however that would be opened to oil & gas exploration is inhabited by Inupiat and Inuwit (Known as two of the main "Eskimo" groups by outsiders). The Inupiat and Inuwit both strongly support oil & gas devlopment of the ANWR coastal strip. Also if you have never been to the North Slope, it's not quite what you'd expect. The coastal strip is flat, windy, mosquito-ridden. In the summer the permafrost thaws and it becomes one giant impassable bog. The inland portion contain the massive mountain chains known as the Brooks Ranges and is totally empty of people save an occasioanl Athabaskan subsistence hunter. On the coastal strip everything happens in the winter once the first freeze sets in as you can then move around freely. In fact most Inuwit and Inupait own skidoos and are blasting around all over the Coastal Strip in the dead of Winter. The place is hardly quiet and pristine as are the inland areas. But there are 22 massive structures that could be tested and easily hooked into the Prudhoe Bay infrastructure to the west if oil or gas are found. I believe that oil & gas could be responsibly developed in the costal strip... And here's a human interest story with a sad ending. My friend and his 30 year old son from Durango, Colorado went to hunt this very area of the the Brooks Range late last Spring. The float plane had just dropped them off when his son picked up his rifle and tent and started to hike up the creek side looking for a campsite. Apparently his presence pissed off a big Mama Grizzly bear who came blasting out of the brush along the River and charged him less than 60 yards away. Totally surprised his son dropped the tent and tried to load his gun, but failed in his panic dropping his shells. The bear approached and he literaly stuck the butt of the gun into the Bear's mouth to ward it off. His Dad hearing the commotion came running upstream and the Bear upon seeing the second human broke off the attack and headed back into the Bush. This all happened within five minutes of being dropped off by the float plane! Everyone shaken but OK. I'll be darned that his son didn't go home to Colorado and die two weeks later when his little Cat (bulldozer) tipped over on him as he was cleaning up around his lot near Durango....Call it fate to survive a Grizzly Bear attack, then only to die shortly thereafter at home in a construction accident.. Finally if Bush is elected then coastal ANWR should be opened. If Gore is elected, he will keep ANWR locked up due to his aversion for the energy industry and for carbon-based fuels....