The Kuparuk River Oil Field, or Kuparuk, located in
North Slope Borough
The North Slope Borough is the northernmost borough in the US state of Alaska and thus, the northernmost county or equivalent of the United States as a whole. As of the 2020 census, the population was 11,031. The borough seat and largest city i ...
,
Alaska
Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S., ...
,
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
, is the second largest oil field in North America by area. It produces approximately of oil and is estimated to have of recoverable oil reserves. It is named for the
Kuparuk River.
Production History
Kuparuk was discovered by
Sinclair Oil
Sinclair Oil Corporation was an American petroleum corporation, founded by Harry F. Sinclair on May 1, 1916, the Sinclair Oil and Refining Corporation combined, amalgamated, the assets of 11 small petroleum companies. Originally a New York cor ...
in April 1969 at the Ugnu Number 1 well, named for the nearby
Ugnuravik River. Oil was found in the Kuparuk
sandstone
Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks.
Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) ...
on the Colville structure. Production was first announced by
ARCO
ARCO ( ) is a brand of gasoline stations currently owned by Marathon Petroleum after BP sold its rights. BP commercializes the brand in Northern California, Oregon and Washington, while Marathon has rights for the rest of the United States an ...
in 1979 and planned to start in 1982. Production actually began December 13, 1981, on five small gravel drilling pads. Production was expected to peak in 1986 at , but did not peak until 1992 at from 371 wells. In December 2002, the production averaged from 448 wells, but by September 2016 the average declined to . For the first six months of 2017 production averaged with a water cut of 87.4 percent. During the first half of 2019 the pool averaged with a water cut of 88.7 percent.
See also
*
Prudhoe Bay Oil Field
Prudhoe Bay Oil Field is a large oil field on Alaska's North Slope. It is the largest oil field in North America, covering and originally containing approximately of oil.
*
Trans-Alaskan Pipeline System
The Trans-Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS) is an oil transportation system spanning Alaska, including the trans-Alaska crude-oil pipeline, 11 pump stations, several hundred miles of feeder pipelines, and the Valdez Marine Terminal. TAPS is one o ...
*
Tarn Oil Field
References
Further reading
* Jamison, H.C., Brockett, L.D., and McIntosh, R.A., 1980, Prudhoe Bay - A 10-Year Perspective, in Giant Oil and Gas Fields of the Decade: 1968-1978, AAPG Memoir 30, Tulsa: American Association of Petroleum Geologists, {{ISBN, 0891813063.
External links
USGS report on the Oil and Gas Resources of the Arctic Alaska Petroleum Province
Oil fields in Alaska
Industry in the Arctic
Geography of North Slope Borough, Alaska