FIRST OIL FROM NATIONAL PETROLEUM RESERVE IN ALASKA

Back in the '20s an area in Alaska was set aside for oil exploitation in an "emergency." Well, the National Petroleum Reserve - Alaska (originally the Naval Petroleum Reserve #4 in Alaska). It was finally opened for exploration on some tracts well before I retired more than 20 years ago.* The first oil began to be produced late last year.**

I think it was back about 1980 that the USGS spent several billion dollars exploring for oil (rest assured that this exploration was by contracts) hoping to find another Prudoe Bay (structural trap) with no avail. Then eventually a large stratigraphic trap oil find was made next to the NPR-A. Though stratigraphic traps can be quite large (maybe 500 million barrels), they are nothing like what one can get from a structural trap (like a dome).

* What do you mean I'm over the hill. What hill? Where? I don't remember any hill.
** http://www.cnbc.com/2016/03/03/first-oil-flows-from-alaska-reserve-set-aside-in-23.html