Toward the end of the 20th century, ARCO Alaska supposedly invented a term that may have been mere marketing but has since become an accepted vision for the North Slope.
The billion-dollar fairway.
The billion-dollar fairway is the strip of land between the Kuparuk River unit and the Colville River.
The modern Alaska oil industry is in its eighth decade, and before that came decades of wildcat exploration. By now, explorers have sniffed every corner of the state.
And yet, even after so much time and work and expense, oil and natural gas production remains firmly focused in just two basins: Cook.
Eni US Operating Co. Inc. designed its facilities at the Nikaitchuq unit to handle 40,000 barrels per day. With some tinkering, they could be expanded to 50,000 barrels per day.
But right now, after 11 years of productive life, the offshore unit in the coastal waters of the Beaufort Sea north of Oli.
Explorers 2022: Nanushuk keeps hope alive - May 29, 2022 petroleumnews.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from petroleumnews.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
North Slope oil exploration in the 21st century has often been a story of second acts: not so much the second acts of exploration companies but the second acts of exploration plays.
Some 70 years after exploration began in earnest, much of the basin is known. But only a small portion of it is known.