OCS Report

MMS 96-0033

Endowments of Undiscovered

Conventionally Recoverable and

Economically Recoverable Oil and

Gas in the Alaska Federal Offshore

As of January 1995
Copies of this report may be obtained upon request by contacting:

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Alaska OCS Region

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Anchorage, Alaska 99508-4302

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This report is also available in electronic form on the Alaska Home Page of the

World Wide Web at http://www.mms.gov/omm/alaska/ref/akref.html
OCS Report

MMS 96-0033

Endowments of Undiscovered

Conventionally Recoverable and

Economically Recoverable Oil and 

Gas in the Alaska Federal Offshore

__________________________________

As of January 1995

By: Kirk W. Sherwood

James D. Craig

Larry W. Cooke

U.S. Department of the Interior

Minerals Management Service

Alaska Outer Continental Shelf Region

Resource Evaluation Group May 1996
ii

CONTENTS

Summary of Assessment Results...................................................... 1

Location of Assessment Area .......................................................... 2

Identification of Assessment Provinces ........................................... 2

Geologic Setting ............................................................................. 2

Petroleum Exploration and Development in 

Alaska and the Alaska Offshore ...................................................... 4

Resource Assessment Models ......................................................... 5

Conventionally Recoverable Oil and Gas ........................................ 6

Economically Recoverable Oil and Gas .......................................... 9

Comparison of 1995 Results to 1987 MMS Assessment.................. 15

Conclusions .................................................................................... 16

References Cited ............................................................................. 16
iii

TABLES

1 Risked, undiscovered conventionally recoverable oil, gas,

andBOE at mean and 5-percent (F05) and 95-percent (F95) 

probabilities for Alaska offshore region, 3 subregions, and 11

assessment provinces...................................................................... 7

2 Risked, undiscovered economically recoverable oil, gas, and

BOE at mean and 5-percent (F05) and 95-percent (F95)

probabilities for Alaska offshore region, 3 subregions, and 11

assessment provinces ...................................................................... 10

3 Comparison of 1995 results to 1987 results for risked mean

resources for total Alaska Federal offshore .................................... 15

FIGURES

1 Map showing locations of Alaska offshore assessment 

provinces, 1995 National Resource Assessment ............................ 3

2 Cumulative probability distributions for risked, undiscovered

conventionally recoverable oil, gas, and total hydrocarbon

energy in BOE for (A) Alaska (Federal) offshore, (B) Arctic

offshore subregion, (C) Bering shelf subregion, and (D) Pacific

 margin subregion .......................................................................... 8

3 Beaufort shelf assessment province. (A) Cumulative frequency

distributions for risked, undiscovered conventionally recoverable

resources; (B) Table comparing results for conventionally and

economically recoverable oil and gas; (C) Price-supply curves

for oil at low (F95), mean, and high (F05) resource

cases................................................................................................ 12

4 Chukchi shelf assessment province. (A) Cumulative frequency

distributions for risked, undiscovered conventionally recoverable

resources; (B) Table comparing results for conventionally and

economically recoverable oil and gas; (C) Price-supply curves

for oil at low (F95), mean, and high (F05) resource

 cases................................................................................................ 13

5 Cook Inlet assessment province. (A) Cumulative frequency

distributions for risked, undiscovered conventionally recoverable

resources; (B) Table comparing results for conventionally and

economically recoverable oil and gas; (C) Price-supply curves

for oil at low (F95), mean, and high (F05) resource

 cases............................................................................................... 14
1

Endowments of Undiscovered Conventionally Recoverable and

Economically Recoverable Oil and Gas in the Alaska Federal Offshore,

as of January 1995

SUMMARY OF ASSESSMENT RESULTS

This report summarizes the Minerals

Management Service assessment of the quantities of

undiscovered oil and gas that lie beneath submerged

Federal lands offshore of Alaska. Resource estimates

include both the geologic endowment, consisting of

conventionally recoverable resources unconstrained by

economics, as well as the more modest quantities of oil

and gas that can be recovered profitably, considering the

costs associated with producing the resource. 

This assessment of the Alaska Federal offshore

was conducted as part of a national appraisal of all

Federal offshore lands in the United States performed by

the Minerals Management Service (MMS) concurrently

with a U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) assessment of all

onshore lands and submerged lands in State waters

(USGS, 1995). The MMS assessments are conducted

periodically (Cooke, 1985, 1991; Cooke and

Dellagiarino, 1989), and the results are used to guide

management of leasing and exploration policies and

programs in the Federal offshore. 

In Alaska, Federal waters generally extend

seaward of 3 miles from shore. For the purposes of this

assessment, the Alaska offshore was divided into 17

provinces. Eleven of these provinces, all on the

continental shelves, offer potential for conventional

supplies of oil and gas. Within these 11 assessment

provinces, oil and gas endowments were calculated for 74

exploration plays.

The quantities of oil and gas were calculated

using two computer models (GRASP and PRESTO) that

statistically analyze input data provided as ranges of

values reflecting different probabilities for occurrence.

These data are drawn from a vast offshore database of

geophysically mapped prospects, data from offshore

wells, and development cost data gathered over years of

offshore work in Alaska.

The Alaska offshore is estimated to offer a mean

potential for undiscovered, conventionally recoverable oil

of 24 billion barrels, with a 5-percent chance of oil

resources exceeding 34 billion barrels. Gas potential

(mean value) is estimated at 126 trillion cubic feet, with

a 5-percent chance of gas resources exceeding 230

trillion cubic feet.

Approximately 90 percent of the conventionally

recoverable oil endowment in offshore Alaska occurs

within the Chukchi shelf (13 billion barrels) and Beaufort

shelf (9 billion barrels) provinces, which lie adjacent to

the onshore Arctic Alaska oil and gas province, the latter

with original oil reserves of 16.4 billion barrels and

presently producing about 1.5 million barrels per day. 

Most of the oil and gas resources of the Alaska

offshore occur in accumulations too small to warrant

commercial exploitation within the forseeable future.

Only about 15 percent of the geologic oil endowment of

offshore Alaska could be profitably recovered at prices

approaching those that exist today. Most of the

economically recoverable oil resources occur beneath the

Beaufort shelf (2.27 billion barrels of oil) and Chukchi

shelf (1.14 billion barrels of oil). Along the Pacific 1

margin of Alaska, Cook Inlet is estimated to hold modest

undiscovered, economically recoverable oil resources of

0.27 billion barrels of oil. Most of the conventionally

recoverable gas resources occur beneath the Beaufort and

Chukchi shelves, but these resources are considered

uneconomic because of the lack of an infrastructure for

gas transport.

This report summarizes the results of a 4-year

study involving a large MMS staff of geoscientists, with

technical input from industry, academia, and other

government agencies. The fuller body of this work will

be documented in a detailed, comprehensive report

scheduled for later publication. The comprehensive

report will provide a full economic analysis of all

assessment provinces including price-supply curves that

show how recoverable quantities vary with commodity

prices. The comprehensive report will tabulate all data

used in geologic modeling and the quantitative results of

the modeling, and it will fully document geologic

rationales used in the preparation of play data.

Resource quantities are taken from price- 1

supply curves at commodity prices of $18 per barrel

of oil and $2.11 per thousand cubic feet of gas.
2

LOCATION OF ASSESSMENT AREA GEOLOGIC SETTING

U.S. (Federal) submerged lands partly surround

Alaska, starting at the U.S.-Canadian maritime boundary

in southeastern Alaska, then extending west and

clockwise to the U.S.-Russia maritime boundary in the

Bering Sea, and then northeast to the U.S.-Canada

maritime boundary in the Beaufort Sea (fig. 1). The area

of Federal jurisdiction in these waters extends from the

limit of State of Alaska waters, generally 3 miles

offshore, to the farther of two limits as defined by either

Federal Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) planning areas or

the 200-mile Exclusive Economic Zone. Because

submerged Federal lands extend 200 miles or farther

offshore, they include all of the continental shelves as

well as large areas of the continental slopes and deep

abyssal plains of the north Pacific Ocean, and the Bering,

Chukchi, and Beaufort Seas. 

IDENTIFICATION OF ASSESSMENT

PROVINCES

For purposes of the 1995 assessment, the

Federal waters offshore Alaska were divided on

geological grounds into 17 assessment provinces, as

shown in figure 1. Six provinces embrace areas of deep

water or unpromising geology that offer only negligible

geologic potential for conventionally recoverable oil or

gas. The deep-water assessment provinces are the

Canada basin-Beaufort slope, the Chukchi Borderland,

the Bering shelf-margin basins, the Bering Sea deepwater basins, and the Aleutian trench and north Pacific

abyssal plain. A sixth assessment province, the Aleutian

arc, consists of an intra-oceanic volcanic arc of Tertiary

age and is considered to have negligible potential for oil

and gas.

Assessment provinces that offer potential for

undiscovered oil and gas resources are confined to the

continental shelves surrounding Alaska. The Arctic

subregion is divided into the Beaufort shelf, Chukchi

shelf, and Hope basin assessment provinces. The Bering

shelf subregion is divided into five assessment provinces:

Norton basin, St. Matthew-Hall basin, Navarin basin, St.

George basin, and North Aleutian basin. The Pacific

margin subregion is divided into three assessment

provinces: Shumagin-Kodiak shelf, Cook Inlet, and Gulf

of Alaska shelf. 

The assessment provinces located offshore

southern Alaska overlie the modern Pacific convergent

margin, where oceanic crust of the Pacific plate moves

northward and is subducted beneath the Aleutian volcanic

arc and the Shumagin, Kodiak, and Gulf of Alaska

continental shelves. The compression and uplift resulting

from the convergence of plates along this zone has

controlled the geological development of the Pacific

margin of Alaska. The Aleutian volcanic arc, of Tertiary

age and constructed entirely upon oceanic crust, extends

eastward 1,300 km from Russian waters into a

continental setting where it meets the Bering Sea

continental margin (at approximately the southeast limit

of the “Bering shelf-margin basins” assessment

province, fig. 1). From the Bering margin northeast to

the interior of southern Alaska, the modern volcanic arc

is superposed upon older volcanic-arc systems ranging up

to Jurassic (145 to 200 million years ago (Ma)) in age

(Reed and Lanphere, 1973). East of Cook Inlet, the

volcanic arc and convergent-margin tectonics gradually

give way to the strike-slip fault tectonics that dominate

the eastern Gulf of Alaska, where the Pacific plate moves

northwest and laterally past the North American

continental plate. Most of the undiscovered oil and gas

resources in the assessment provinces of the Pacific

margin subregion are associated with forearc basins and

shelf-margin wedges of Tertiary age (66 Ma and

younger). Except in Cook Inlet, these Tertiary rocks are

superposed on a deformed “basement” consisting of older

volcanic-arc complexes and accretionary terranes that

generally offer negligible hydrocarbon resource potential.

Western offshore Alaska is dominated by the

600-km-wide Bering Sea continental shelf. From

Jurassic to earliest Tertiary time, the Bering shelf hosted

one segment of a larger system of volcanic arcs extending

from southeast Alaska to the Russian Sea of Okhotsk.

This volcanic-arc system marked the northward descent

of a southern oceanic (proto-Pacific) plate encroaching

from the south. Continental fragments and volcanic arcs

borne along with the southern oceanic plate collided with

both Russian and Alaskan elements of the volcanic-arc

system in earliest Tertiary time (Worrall, 1991). The

collision(s) strongly deformed the rocks of most parts of

the Bering shelf segment and other parts of the volcanicarc system. Rocks deformed by these collisions, typically

Cretaceous age or older, offer only negligible potential

for undiscovered oil and gas resources. The Aleutian arc

was also established as a new plate boundary at this time,
3

Figure 1: Alaska offshore assessment provinces, 1995 National Resource Assessment.
4

trapping fragments of an old volcanic arc and oceanic 1995). Oil production from Cook Inlet fields peaked at

crust that formerly were part of the southern oceanic plate 236,000 barrels of oil per day (BOPD) in 1970, but

of (Marlow and others, 1982). Subduction of a spreading declined to 43,500 BOPD by 1994 (AOGCC, 1994). 

ridge that lay within the southern oceanic plate Total cumulative production from Cook Inlet by the end

reorganized plate interactions in the north Pacific and of 1994 was 1.19 BBO and 7.44 TCFG (AOGCC, 1994).

caused strike-slip faulting throughout southern Alaska in Of the 7.44 TCFG produced in Cook Inlet, 2.73 TCFG

early Tertiary and later time (Atwater, 1970). Most of the were re-injected to aid oil recovery (and remain a future

Bering shelf basins (Norton, St. Matthew-Hall, Navarin, resource), with 4.70 TCFG, or 50-percent of discovered

St. George, and North Aleutian basins) began to subside resources, actually delivered to market and consumed.

at this time as pull-aparts or related features along strike- Cook Inlet also hosts a liquefied natural gas (LNG)

slip fault systems passing through the Bering shelf. Most facility, which ships about 144 million cubic feet of gas

of the undiscovered oil and gas resources offshore per day to power utilities in Tokyo, Japan (AOGCC,

western Alaska are associated with Tertiary rocks 1994, p. 9 (N. Cook Inlet field); OGJ, 1993b, p. 24). No

deposited in the Bering shelf basins formed during this commercial production has occurred on Federal

period of strike-slip faulting. submerged lands in the Cook Inlet area.

Offshore areas north and northwest of Alaska Exploration of the Alaska Federal offshore

are dominated by the broad (400-km) continental shelf of began in the early 1970's with the scheduling of lease

Chukchi Sea and the narrow (70-km) continental shelf of offerings in the Gulf of Alaska and Federal submerged

Beaufort Sea. In Paleozoic and Mesozoic time (ca. 360 lands of Cook Inlet. A stratigraphic-test well was drilled

to 115 Ma), these shelf areas and onshore Arctic Alaska in the Gulf of Alaska in 1975, and a second stratigraphic

shared petroleum-rich geologic basins that were broken test was drilled in Federal waters of Cook Inlet in 1977.

up or restructured in Early Cretaceous time (ca. 115 Ma) The first Federal offshore lease sale in Alaska

by rifting along the Beaufort shelf margin and the rise of waters was held in 1976 in the Gulf of Alaska. Three

the Brooks Range (Craig and others, 1985; Moore and sales in the Gulf of Alaska from 1976 to 1981 leased 0.6

others, 1992; Warren and others, 1995). These uplifts million acres for total high bonus bids of $670 million.

and fragmentation of the crust in northern Alaska gave Twelve exploratory wells on Gulf of Alaska leases in the

rise to several new basins that received many thousands period from 1977 to 1983 failed to locate commercial

of meters of sediments during Cretaceous and Tertiary quantities of oil or gas. Two lease offerings in Federal

time (115 Ma to present). These events also created the waters of Cook Inlet in 1977 and 1981 leased 0.57

geologic structures that later trapped the vast oil reserves million acres for total high bonus bids of $403 million.

(70+ billion barrels, in place) found in the Prudhoe Bay Thirteen exploratory wells drilled on Cook Inlet leases in

area of Arctic Alaska. the period from 1977 to 1985 failed to find commercial

PETROLEUM EXPLORATION AND sales on the Bering Sea shelf. Seismic data were

DEVELOPMENT IN ALASKA AND THE

ALASKA OFFSHORE 

Petroleum exploration in Alaska began in the

late nineteenth century, and the first field (Katalla) was

discovered in 1902 by drilling at the site of oil seeps

along the coast of the eastern Gulf of Alaska (fig. 1;

AOGCC, 1994, p. 56). In the late 1950's and the 1960's,

several commercial oil and gas fields were discovered in

the Cook Inlet area. Many of the commercial-sized fields

discovered during this time remain in production today

(presently 7 oil fields, 7 gas fields). Altogether, 8 oil

fields and 22 gas fields have been discovered in Cook

Inlet, with total discovered oil resources of about 1.34

billion barrels of oil (BBO) and 9.33 trillion cubic feet of

gas (TCFG) (AOGCC, 1994; OGJ, 1993b; AKDO&G,

quantities of oil or gas.

Petroleum exploration offshore western Alaska

began in the early 1970's with the scheduling of lease

gathered across large parts of the Bering shelf, and six

stratigraphic-test wells were drilled from 1976 to 1983 in

St. George, Norton, Navarin, and North Aleutian basins.

Four lease sales were held in these same basins in the

period from 1983 to 1988, and 1.9 million acres were

leased for total high bonus bids of $1.36 billion. Twentyfour exploratory wells were drilled in Navarin, Norton,

and St. George basins. None encountered significant

shows of oil or gas. Except for a stratigraphic-test well

drilled in 1983, no exploratory drilling has occurred in

North Aleutian basin.

Petroleum exploration in Arctic Alaska began

with the reporting of oil seeps in the Cape Simpson area

near the northernmost tip of Alaska by Leffingwell of the

U.S. Geological Survey in 1917. In 1923, based on the

presence of these seeps and prompted by fuel shortages

in World War I, President Warren Harding established
5

Naval Petroleum Reserve No. 4, later renamed the offshore lands about 5 miles north of Prudhoe Bay field

National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (NPR-A, fig. 1). (fig. 1). The Northstar field is being considered for

Fuel shortages during World War II prompted the first development, pending the results of current feasibility

intensive, publicly funded exploration program in NPR-A studies. If Northstar field is developed, the first

from 1944 to 1953, resulting in the discovery of several commercial production from the Alaska Federal offshore

subcommercial oil and gas fields. could enter the TAPS as early as late 1998 (BP, 1995, p.

 With passage of Alaska statehood in 1959, 1-3). 

exploration shifted to the lands selected by the State of

Alaska in the corridor between NPR-A on the west and

the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR, fig. 1) on

the east. State of Alaska lease sales in 1964 and 1965

were followed by the 1968 discovery of the 12.4 BBO

Prudhoe Bay field, the largest oil field ever found in

North America (fig. 1). The ultimate reserves

recoverable from known commercial fields in the

Prudhoe Bay area are approximately 16.4 BBO, and

Prudhoe-area gas reserves are estimated at 28.2 TCFG

(AOGCC, 1994; AKDO&G, 1995). 

Construction of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline

System (TAPS) began in 1974, and the first oil pumped

through the pipeline arrived at the ice-free port of Valdez,

Alaska, in 1977 for tanker shipment to the U.S. mainland

(fig. 1). Pipeline throughput peaked at 2.0 million barrels

of oil per day (MMBOPD) in 1988. By May 1996,

production was 1.5 MMBOPD and a total of 11.2 BBO

had passed through the pipeline (R. Oliver, Alyeska

Pipeline Co., pers. comm., 1996). 

In response to concerns about oil shortages

related to the 1973 embargo of the United States by the

Organization of Petroleum-Exporting Countries,

government-sponsored exploration of NPR-A resumed in

1975 after a 22-year hiatus. This second program

resulted in 28 exploration wells and 14,800 miles of

seismic data, but no significant discoveries. The first

offerings of leases for private exploration occurred in

1981, followed by a single well drilled and abandoned in

1985. This well concluded the most recent cycle of

petroleum exploration in NPR-A.

The first lease sale in the Arctic Alaska

offshore, offering mostly submerged lands of the Beaufort

Sea near known fields in the Prudhoe Bay area, was

conducted jointly by the State of Alaska and the Federal

Government in 1979. Since 1979, most continental-shelf

areas of the Arctic Alaska offshore were offered in four

additional lease sales in the Beaufort Sea and two lease

sales in the Chukchi Sea. In all seven sales, a total of 5.5

million acres of Federal lands were leased for total high

bonus bids of $4.03 billion. A total of 32 exploratory

wells were drilled in Arctic Federal waters between 1980

and 1993, resulting in the discovery of several

subcommercial pools of oil. Northstar (Seal Island) field,

estimated by BP-Alaska to contain 130 million barrels of

recoverable oil, straddles State of Alaska and Federal hydrocarbons.

RESOURCE ASSESSMENT MODELS

The assessment of the undiscovered oil and gas

potential of the Alaska offshore involved two major tasks.

The first task was to develop estimates of the

undiscovered resources irrespective of any economic

constraints. The focus was on frequency and sizes of

hydrocarbon accumulations as a basis for calculating the

total oil and gas endowments producible by conventional

recovery practices. The second task was to determine

how much of the total oil and gas endowments would be

economic to produce under varying conditions.

To accomplish the first task, MMS used a

computer program called GRASP (Geologic Resource

ASsessment Program). This program was adapted by

MMS from a program called PETRIMES (PETroleum

Resource Information Management and Evaluation

System), originally developed by the Geological Survey

of Canada. The primary assessment unit is the geologic

play, which is composed of pools or prospects having 2 3

a common history of hydrocarbon generation, migration,

reservoir development, and trap configuration. In the

Alaska offshore, a total of 74 plays were identified and

individually assessed for undiscovered, conventionally

recoverable quantities of oil and gas.

The MMS Alaska Region assessors followed a

subjective approach in which ranges of values with

varying probabilities of occurrence are estimated for

geologic variables, such as pool area, pay thickness,

porosity, hydrocarbon saturation, recovery efficiency, and

others. Ranged values are used rather than fixed values

to reflect uncertainty about the true quantity of a

geologic variable at any particular site. GRASP uses

A pool is a discovered (or undiscovered) 2

accumulation of hydrocarbons, typically within a

single stratigraphic interval, that is hydraulically

separated from any other hydrocarbon accumulation.

A prospect is an untested geologic feature 3

having the potential for trapping and accumulating
6

these variables to calculate probability distributions for whether sufficient resources are available to justify a

sizes of recoverable pool volumes, both oil and gas, transportation infrastructure for the entire geologic basin

within each play. Separately, a probability distribution or province. This process is repeated for a large number

for the numbers of pools is calculated by combining of trials, resulting in a distribution of possible economic

geologic risk factors with a probability distribution for the resources under the given conditions. Economic

numbers of prospects within the play. A Monte Carlo conditions are then modified and the entire process is 4

process statistically combines the distribution of the repeated many times (typically 1,000 trials), finally

possible sizes of pools with the distribution of the

possible numbers of pools to compute distributions for

the oil and gas volumes of individual pools. The pools

are then ranked from largest to smallest and are summed

to calculate the overall play resource endowment.

Outputs from the program include pool size rank plots,

complementary cumulative curves (e.g., fig. 2), and

tabular distributions of results. Assessed commodities

include crude oil, solution gas, nonassociated and

associated gas, and condensate. Again, all of this work

was done using GRASP.

MMS statistically aggregates the probability

distributions for individual plays to the geologic-province

level using a computer program named FASPAG,

developed by Robert Crovelli, U.S. Geological Survey.

MMS also uses FASPAG to aggregate province results

to the subregional and regional levels.

To accomplish the second major

task—determining the quantities of undiscovered

economic resources—the MMS uses a computer

program named PRESTO (Probabilistic Resource

ESTimates—Offshore, generation 5). PRESTO

simulates the exploration, development, production, and

transportation of the pool resources for all plays within a

geologic province. The geologic data used by GRASP

for pool and play modeling is translated into a format

usable by PRESTO. A Monte Carlo process samples the

ranges of values input for engineering and economic

variables. For each pool, the program models

exploratory efforts (numbers and costs of wells),

schedules installation of development equipment

(platforms and wells), estimates annual production,

schedules production costs and revenues, develops a riskweighted discounted cash flow, and calculates a present

economic value. Results for all pools are summed to the

play level to determine whether economic resources are

sufficient to justify development of the play. Similarly,

results from all of the plays are summed to determine

yielding a series of possible results under many different

economic scenarios. 

Although numerous tables of various play and

province results are available from PRESTO, the primary

output is the price-supply curve. Inspection of pricesupply curves allows interpretation of economically

recoverable volumes of oil or gas at any commodity price.

Increases in price drive a corresponding direct increase

in economically recoverable resources. At a very high

price, the curve approaches a limit which equals the

resource endowment estimated by GRASP.

CONVENTIONALLY RECOVERABLE

OIL AND GAS 

Federal submerged lands offshore Alaska offer

a high potential for undiscovered, conventionally

recoverable oil and gas resources, ranging up to 33.57

BBO and 229.53 TCFG (5-percent probability). Mean

(or average) estimates for the undiscovered potential of

the Alaska offshore are 24.31 BBO and 125.93 TCFG.

Assessment results for subregions and assessment

provinces are summarized in table 1. Cumulative

probability distributions for the Alaska offshore and the

three subregions (Arctic, Bering shelf, and Pacific

margin) are shown in figure 2.

The Arctic subregion contains 90 percent of the

undiscovered oil resources and 79 percent of the

undiscovered gas resources (compared at mean values) of

the entire Alaska offshore. The high proportion of

offshore oil and gas resources estimated to be present in

the Arctic subregion is consistent with the fact that 92

percent of Alaska’s commercial oil reserves have been

in the Arctic. The dominance of the Arctic in the 5

distributions of both offshore undiscovered resources and

Estimates for prospect numbers were transportation infrastructure. However, the untapped 4

generally developed from the prospect count obtained reserves in the Prudhoe Bay area amount to about

by geophysical mapping and some estimates of 28.2 TCFG (AKDO&G, 1995), or about three times

additional prospects missed or not mapped in areas of the commercial gas reserves in all of the Bering shelf

no data. or the Pacific margin (essentially Cook Inlet). 

No gas reserves in Arctic Alaska are 5

presently commercial because there is no
7

TABLE 1

RISKED, UNDISCOVERED, CONVENTIONALLY RECOVERABLE OIL AND GAS

AREA OIL (BBO) GAS (TCFG) BOE (BBO) 

F95 MEAN F05 F95 MEAN F05 F95 MEAN 

ALASKA OFFSHORE 16.85 24.31 33.57 58.01 125.93 229.53 28.68 46.72 

ARCTIC SUBREGION 14.68 21.96 31.18 38.02 99.41 201.13 22.52 39.65 

BERING SHELF SUBREGION 0.36 0.91 1.81 6.98 18.80 38.64 1.65 4.26 

PACIFIC MARGIN SUBREGION 0.72 1.44 2.49 2.12 7.72 18.34 1.15 2.81 

ARCTIC SUBREGION

CHUKCHI SHELF 6.80 13.02 21.94 9.81 51.84 141.75 8.59 22.24 

BEAUFORT SHELF 6.28 8.84 11.96 20.10 43.50 79.15 10.29 16.58 

HOPE BASIN 0.00 0.11 0.34 0.00 4.06 12.67 0.00 0.83 

BERING SHELF SUBREGION

NAVARIN BASIN 0.00 0.50 1.21 0.00 6.15 18.18 0.00 1.59 

N. ALEUTIAN BASIN 0.00 0.23 0.57 0.00 6.79 17.33 0.00 1.44 

ST. GEORGE BASIN 0.00 0.13 0.41 0.00 3.00 9.72 0.00 0.67 

NORTON BASIN 0.00 0.05 0.15 0.00 2.71 8.74 0.00 0.53 

ST. MATTHEW-HALL 0.00 <0.01 <0.01 0.00 0.16 0.69 0.00 0.03 

PACIFIC MARGIN SUBREGION

COOK INLET 0.32 0.74 1.39 0.40 0.89 1.65 0.39 0.90 

GULF OF ALASKA 0.18 0.63 1.43 0.94 4.18 10.59 0.36 1.37 

SHUMAGIN-KODIAK 0.00 0.07 0.29 0.00 2.65 11.35 0.00 0.54 

BBO, billions of barrels; TCFG, trillions of cubic feet; BOE, total oil and gas in billions of energy-equivalent barrels (5,620 cubic feet of gas=1 energy-eq

MEAN, resource quantities at the mean in cumulative probability distributions; F95, the resource quantity having a 95-percent probability of being met or exceeded; 

having a 5-percent probability of being met or exceeded; MPhc, marginal probability for hydrocarbons for basin, i.e., chance for the existence of at least one pool of 

recoverable hydrocarbons somewhere in the basin. Resource quantities shown are risked, that is, they are the product of multiplication of conditional resources and M

provinces may not sum to values shown for subregions or region because of rounding.
8

Figure 2: Cumulative probability distributions for risked, undiscovered conventionally recoverable oil, gas, and total hydr

BOE (barrels of oil-equivalent, 1 barrel of oil = 5,620 cubic feet of gas), for (A) Alaska (Federal) offshore regiooffshore subregion, (C) Bering shelf subregion, and (D) Pacific margin (Alaska) subregion.
9

proven onshore reserves simply reflects the rich provinces account for the balance (9 percent) of

endowment of Arctic Alaska and adjoining continental undiscovered economically recoverable oil resources in

shelves with the key ingredients for oil and gas the Alaska offshore. A similar disproportionate amount

accumulations—prolific source rocks, excellent reservoir of undiscovered, conventionally recoverable gas is also

rocks, and numerous potential traps of large areal expected to occur in the Arctic subregion (table 1).

dimensions. However, because of the lack of a gas transportation

Among the provinces of the Arctic subregion, system from Arctic Alaska and the presence of huge, but

the sparsely explored Chukchi shelf offers the highest marginally profitable, proven gas reserves onshore it is

potential for undiscovered resources, with a 5-percent very unlikely that development of new offshore gas fields

chance for recoverable oil resources as high as 21.94 will occur in the foreseeable future. Therefore, no

BBO (table 1). Navarin basin, owing to its large size and economic gas resources are reported for the Beaufort and

an abundance of large potential traps, offers the greatest Chukchi shelf provinces. 

potential of the gas-prone provinces of the Bering shelf Other than the Beaufort and Chukchi shelf

subregion. Among provinces of the Pacific margin provinces, only the Cook Inlet province is likely to

subregion, Cook Inlet offers the greatest potential for contain economically viable oil resources at current

remaining undiscovered oil reserves in Federal waters. prices. Although the geologic resources are modest

Very small quantities of liquid hydrocarbons are compared to the Arctic, the proximity to existing

reported in the assessments of Norton basin, St. infrastructure and potential markets contributes to

Matthew-Hall basin, and Shumagin-Kodiak shelf reduced development costs in the Cook Inlet province.

provinces. These three provinces were modeled as As in the Beaufort and Chukchi provinces, the economic

offering potential for gas only. The volumes reported as assessment for the Cook Inlet considered only oil

oil are therefore actually natural-gas liquids or condensate production, largely because the reservoirs were modeled

derived as a by-product of gas production. as oil pools with gas caps. To optimize oil recovery,

ECONOMICALLY RECOVERABLE OIL this resource.

AND GAS

The purpose of the economic phase of the 1995

assessment is to estimate the undiscovered resource

volume in each province which, if discovered, could be

produced profitably given realistic estimates for costs of

exploration, development, production, and transportation.

The quantities of economically recoverable resources,

calculated with the PRESTO program, temper the much

larger estimates for conventionally recoverable (geologic)

resources calculated with GRASP. Only 8.5 percent of

the conventionally recoverable resources on a barrels of

oil-equivalent (BOE) basis, or 15 percent of total oil

resources, are estimated to be economically recoverable

under current conditions.

To provide a meaningful basis for reporting the

economic results, commodity prices of $18 per barrel

(oil) and $2.11 per thousand cubic feet (gas), or

approximately current market prices, were selected. The

economically recoverable resources in the Alaska Federal

offshore are shown in table 2. This tabulation indicates

that 91 percent of the risked mean undiscovered oil in the

Alaska offshore that is economically recoverable under

current conditions occurs in the Arctic subregion

(Beaufort and Chukchi provinces). The remaining nine

produced gas will be reinjected for reservoir pressure

maintenance. Some decades later, offshore oil production

platforms could be converted to gas production to recover

 The remainder of the Alaska offshore provinces are

generally gas-prone and lack production and

transportation infrastructure. Because potential markets

are in the western Pacific Rim, the gas must be shipped

to market as liquefied natural gas (LNG). The substantial

costs of constructing an LNG infrastructure typically

cannot be supported by the relatively small gas fields in

these remote, high cost locations. Of the gas-prone

provinces in the Bering shelf subregion, the North

Aleutian basin province is estimated to contain the

majority—79 percent of the entire Alaska offshore—of

the economically recoverable gas. The small volumes of

oil listed for the North Aleutian province, as in the other

gas-prone provinces, are largely condensate liquids

recovered as a by-product of gas production. 

An indicator of the relative chances for

economic success among the Alaska offshore provinces

is the ratio of economically recoverable resources to

conventionally recoverable resources (E/C column, table

2). The E/C ratios vary from 0.30 in the relatively low

cost Cook Inlet to negligible (less than 0.01) in the

relatively high cost Navarin basin. This suggests that the

undiscovered hydrocarbon pools in Navarin basin are

typically small, have high gas proportions, and will be

very costly to develop. Although Navarin Basin has the

highest total geologic endowment outside the Arctic
10

TABLE 2

RISKED, UNDISCOVERED, ECONOMICALLY RECOVERABLE OIL AND GAS

AREA OIL (BBO) GAS (TCFG) BOE (BBO) 

F95 MEAN F05 F95 MEAN F05 F95 MEAN 

ALASKA OFFSHORE 1.41 3.75 7.65 0.02 1.11 4.33 1.43 3.95 

ARCTIC SUBREGION 1.15 3.41 7.25 0.00 0.12 0.00 1.15 3.44 

BERING SHELF SUBREGION 0.00 0.02 0.22 0.00 0.99 10.82 0.00 0.19 

PACIFIC MARGIN SUBREGION 0.00 0.32 0.79 0.00 negl 0.01 0.00 0.32 

ARCTIC SUBREGION

CHUKCHI SHELF 0.00 1.14 4.48 N/A N/A N/A 0.00 1.14 

BEAUFORT SHELF 0.00 2.27 4.44 N/A N/A N/A 0.00 2.27 

HOPE BASIN 0.00 negl 0.00 0.00 0.12 0.00 0.00 0.03 

BERING SHELF SUBREGION

NAVARIN BASIN 0.00 negl 0.00 0.00 0.04 0.00 0.00 negl 

N. ALEUTIAN BASIN 0.00 0.02 0.20 0.00 0.88 7.71 0.00 0.18 

ST. GEORGE BASIN 0.00 negl 0.00 0.00 0.05 0.00 0.00 0.01 

NORTON BASIN 0.00 negl 0.00 0.00 0.02 0.00 0.00 negl 

ST. MATTHEW-HALL N/E N/E N/E N/E N/E N/E N/E N/E 

PACIFIC MARGIN SUBREGION

COOK INLET 0.00 0.27 0.71 N/A N/A N/A 0.00 0.27 

GULF OF ALASKA 0.00 0.05 0.30 0.00 negl negl 0.00 0.05 

SHUMAGIN-KODIAK 0.00 negl 0.00 0.00 negl 0.00 0.00 negl 

ECONOMIC ASSUMPTIONS: 1995 base year, $18 per barrel oil price, $2.11 per thousand cubic feet (MCF) gas price, 0.66 gas value discount, flat real prices an

discount rate, 35% Federal tax rate; units of BBO, billions of barrels; TCFG, trillions of cubic feet; BOE, total oil and gas in billions of energy-equivalent barrels (5,6

equivalent barrel of oil). Oil resources include crude oil and natural gas liquids (NGL). Gas resources include nonassociated dry gas and associated solution gas. A

stand-alone basis. N/A refers to Not Available (lacking transportation infrastructure and/or market). N/E refers to Not Evaluated because of very low resource poten(less than significant figures listed). E/C is ratio of risked, mean economically recoverable BOE to risked, mean conventionally recoverable BOE (from table 1). Measum to values shown for subregions and region because of rounding.
11

(1.59 BBOE, table 1), it offers a much less favorable development costs and still yield a profit. For the low

opportunity for commercial fields than most other resource case (F95), the existence of economic resources

provinces in the Alaska offshore. The comparative E/C will require oil prices above $25 per barrel. A broad

ratios (table 2) suggest that the highest reward/risk envelope surrounds mean recoverable volumes, with

opportunities are in the Cook Inlet, Beaufort shelf, and nearly a 4-fold increase from the mean (1.14 BBO) to the

North Aleutian basin provinces. high-side (4.48 BBO) volume at an $18 oil price. 

 All provinces were assessed on a stand-alone Although the high-side resource potential of Chukchi

basis, with no sharing of development infrastructure with shelf is nearly the same as Beaufort shelf (table 2), the

adjacent provinces. For some provinces (Arctic and fraction of economic to conventionally recoverable

Cook Inlet) existing infrastructure was utilized for the resources for the Chukchi shelf (E/C=0.05) is only onesimulated development of undiscovered fields. third that of the Beaufort shelf (E/C=0.14), suggesting

Otherwise, new infrastructure was constructed and that commercial discoveries are much less likely. This

entirely supported by production from each province in comparatively low chance for economic success could

the economic models. Sensitivity tests where several dampen exploration interest, despite the large,

provinces shared infrastructure costs (for example, LNG conventionally recoverable resource potential. 

facilities) generally resulted in improved economic The Cook Inlet price-supply curves (fig. 5)

viability. Despite shared infrastructure strategies, most indicate a more modest economic potential in expected

of the gas-prone provinces nevertheless remain oil volume, with risked mean oil resources at an $18 per

subeconomic at mean resource levels and current barrel price of 0.27 BBO. The high-side potential at

commodity prices. For these subeconomic provinces, prices approaching $50 per barrel ranges upwards of 1.0

viable resources could be recovered at lower probability BBO. The ratio of economic to conventionally

levels or at commodity prices above current levels. recoverable resources (E/C=0.30) suggests that a

A form of sensitivity analysis is provided by significant fraction of the oil resources are present in

price-supply graphs produced by the PRESTO computer commercial-sized fields. 

program. These graphs contain curves which illustrate Eventual development and production of these

the increasing volumes of resources that could be modeled economic resources will require extensive

profitably recovered (if discovered) at increasing exploration drilling programs. Given the low chance of

commodity prices. Price-supply graphs for the provinces commercial success and the high cost of exploration

with economically recoverable oil under current wells, many of these provinces are not likely to be

conditions are given in figures 3, 4, and 5. The three thoroughly tested for some decades. The few wells that

curves shown on each price-supply graph illustrate the may be drilled may fail to locate the commercial-sized

range of risked economic potential, with exceedance pools in these immense provinces. Estimates of

probabilities ranging from 95 percent (low-side potential) economically recoverable resources should be viewed,

to 5 percent (high-side potential). These estimates therefore, as province-wide opportunities, rather than as

include both the geologic probability that resources are readily available reserves.

present and recoverable as well as the economic This summary of the economic assessment for

probability that the simulated development model leads the Alaska offshore has focused on provinces likely to

to profitable production at the prices shown. have recoverable oil at current commodity prices. 

Viewing the Beaufort shelf results (fig. 3), at an However, many Alaska Federal offshore provinces

assumed oil price of $18 per barrel there is a 95-percent

probability that at least 0.70 billion barrels of oil (BBO)

is pooled and economically recoverable. The high-side

(5 percent) potential is at least 4.60 BBO, or six times

larger than the low-side potential. The mean curve

represents the expected risked volume (2.27 BBO) within

this broad range of available resources. The ratio of

economic to conventionally recoverable resources

(E/C=0.14) is second only to Cook Inlet (E/C=0.30),

suggesting that the Beaufort shelf province represents a

good opportunity for future commercial development.

The Chukchi shelf price-supply curves (fig. 4)

are steeper than the Beaufort shelf curves, meaning that

higher prices are required to overcome higher

contain no economically recoverable resources at the

mean level and current commodity prices. Future

offshore leasing and exploration in these subeconomic

provinces will be driven by perceptions of high-side

potential, which assumes greater reward potential at

higher risk, significantly higher prices, and perhaps

innovative technology to reduce development costs. 
12

BEAUFORT SHELF PROVINCE

RESOURCE

 TYPE

MEAN OIL

(BBO)

MEAN GAS

(TCFG)

CONVENTIONALLY RECOVERABLE 8.84 43.50

ECONOMICALLY RECOVERABLE ($18) 2.27 N/A

RATIO ECONOMIC/CONVENTIONAL 0.14 N/A

A.

B.

C.

Figure 3: Beaufort shelf assessment province. (A) Cumulative frequency distributions for risked, undiscovered

conventionally recoverable resources; (B) Table comparing results for conventionally and

economically recoverable oil and gas; (C) Price-supply curves for oil at low (F95), mean, and high

(F05) resource cases. BOE, total oil and gas in billions of energy-equivalent barrels; MPhc, marginal

probability for hydrocarbons for basin; BBO, billions of barrels; TCFG, trillions of cubic feet. 
13

CHUKCHI SHELF PROVINCE

RESOURCE

 TYPE

MEAN OIL

(BBO)

MEAN GAS

(TCFG)

CONVENTIONALLY RECOVERABLE 13.02 51.84

ECONOMICALLY RECOVERABLE ($18) 1.14 N/A

RATIO ECONOMIC/CONVENTIONAL 0.05 N/A

A.

B.

C.

Figure 4: Chukchi shelf assessment province. (A) Cumulative frequency distributions for risked, undiscovered

conventionally recoverable resources; (B) Table comparing results for conventionally and

economically recoverable oil and gas; (C) Price-supply curves for oil at low (F95), mean, and high

(F05) resource cases. BOE, total oil and gas in billions of energy-equivalent barrels; MPhc, marginal

probability of hydrocarbons for basin; BBO, billions of barrels; TCFG, trillions of cubic feet.
14

COOK INLET PROVINCE

RESOURCE

 TYPE

MEAN OIL

(BBO)

MEAN GAS

(TCFG)

CONVENTIONALLY RECOVERABLE 0.74 0.89

ECONOMICALLY RECOVERABLE ($18) 0.27 N/A

RATIO ECONOMIC/CONVENTIONAL 0.30 N/A

A.

B.

C.

Figure 5: Cook Inlet assessment province. (A) Cumulative frequency distributions for risked, undiscovered

conventionally recoverable resources; (B) Table comparing results for conventionally and

economically recoverable oil and gas; (C) Price-supply curves for oil at low (F95), mean, and high

(F05) resource cases. BOE, total oil and gas in billions of energy-equivalent barrels; MPhc, marginal

probability for hydrocarbons for basin; BBO, billions of barrels; TCFG, trillions of cubic feet. 
15

TABLE 3

COMPARISON TO PREVIOUS MMS ASSESSMENT, 

TOTAL ALASKA FEDERAL OFFSHORE, RISKED MEAN RESOURCES

ASSESSMENT YEAR OIL (BBO) GAS (TCFG)

CONVENTIONALLY

 RECOVERABLE

1995 24.31 125.93

CONVENTIONALLY

 RECOVERABLE

1987 3.84 16.75

ECONOMICALLY

 RECOVERABLE

1995 3.75 1.11

ECONOMICALLY

 RECOVERABLE

1987 0.92 0.00

1987 data from Cooke and Dellagiarino, 1989, MMS 89-0090, p.43 (conv. rec.) and p.34 (econ.

 rec.). BBO, billions of barrels of oil; TCFG, trillions of cubic feet of gas.

COMPARISON OF 1995 RESULTS TO

1987 MMS ASSESSMENT

The MMS assessment of the Alaska offshore oil

and gas resources conducted in 1995 cannot be properly

compared with the 1987 MMS assessment, owing to

numerous changes in methodology, definitions, and

assumptions. However, because it is only natural for

readers to want to gain additional perspective through a

comparative analysis, this section will identify some of

the key differences in the databases driving most of the

changes between the assessments. The 1995 and 1987

estimates that are most appropriate for comparison are

shown in table 3. 

The conventionally recoverable oil and gas

resource estimates for the Alaska Federal offshore have

increased dramatically, from 3.84 BBO and 16.75 TCFG

in 1987 to 24.31 BBO and 125.93 TCFG in 1995. The

Chukchi shelf and Beaufort shelf provinces show the

largest increase. The overall increase can be attributed

primarily to an increase in the number of assessed

prospects and a greater chance of success owing to a

major shift in the risking philosophy.

The increase in the numbers of prospects in all

provinces is related to three factors: (1) more seismic

mapping; (2) the addition of subeconomic prospects; and

(3) supplementing the inventory of mapped prospects

with an estimate of speculative prospects which have not

yet been identified. 

In 1995, the assessment focused on the entire

hydrocarbon endowment, where a “success” was defined

as any pool of hydrocarbons recoverable into a wellbore.

This definition generally resulted in much higher overall

chances of success at the prospect, play, and province

levels, when compared with a more conservative risking

approach applied in the 1987 assessment. Another effect

of the change in risking philosophy was to broaden the

assessed distributions for uncertain geologic variables. 

The risked mean economically recoverable

resources estimated in 1995 increased to 3.75 BBO and

1.11 TCFG, compared with 0.92 BBO and no economic

gas from the 1987 assessment. The most significant

increases occur in the Chukchi shelf and Beaufort shelf

provinces. 

Direct comparisons of 1995 and 1987 economic

results are not technically valid, because the economic

assumptions used are so different. Given this caution,

table 3 nevertheless compares the economically

recoverable resources obtained using those assumptions

which were considered the most representative of

financial conditions at the time of the two assessments.
16

The key factors affecting the overall increase in

economically recoverable resources are the increase in

prospect numbers and the higher chances of success.

Other significant changes incorporated into the 1995

economic assessment include: flat real prices (rather than

ramped); revised costs; full-cycle analysis (includes

exploration costs); revised discount and inflation rates;

and revised gas discount factors.

Although risked means are shown for

comparison in table 3, the assessment results for 1995 are

better summarized by price-supply curves (figs. 3, 4, and

5). In the 1987 assessment, a primary (base) case and an

alternative (higher) case resulted from two sets of

economic assumptions. In the 1995 assessment, instead

of just two cases, the price-supply curves portray a

continuous change in recoverable resource volumes

corresponding to changes in price, allowing readers to

predict their own commodity prices and find the potential

economic resources of an offshore province. The pricesupply curves provide a much more complete summary

of the ranges of economic potential. 

CONCLUSIONS

The Alaska Federal offshore is estimated to

contain mean undiscovered, conventionally recoverable

resources of 24 billion barrels of oil and 126 trillion

cubic feet of gas. Approximately 90 percent of these

resources occur in areas offshore of Arctic Alaska,

specifically the Chukchi shelf (13 billion barrels of oil, 52

trillion cubic feet of gas) and the Beaufort shelf (9 billion

barrels of oil, 44 trillion cubic feet of gas).

Most of the undiscovered oil and gas occurs in

pools that are too small to justify economic development.

Only about 15 percent of the conventionally recoverable

oil resources could be profitably extracted at current oil

prices. Three assessment provinces offer significant

quantities of undiscovered, economically recoverable oil:

the Beaufort shelf (2.27 billion barrels), Chukchi shelf

(1.14 billion barrels), and Cook Inlet (0.27 billion

barrels). These provinces might also offer economically

recoverable gas under certain future conditions.

However, the lack of transportation infrastructures

designed for the export of liquefied natural gas may deter

significant gas production from these areas, and, from the

greater Alaska offshore, for many years.

REFERENCES CITED

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Historical and Projected Oil and Gas

Consumption: Published annually by the Alaska

Department of Natural Resources, Division of

Oil and Gas, 3601 C St., Suite 200, Anchorage,

Alaska, 99510, March 1995, 71 p.

AOGCC (Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation

Commission), 1994, Statistical Report for

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Porcupine Drive, Anchorage, AK 99501, 230

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Atwater, T., 1970, Implications of plate tectonics for the

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1995, 32 p.

Cooke, L.W., 1985, Estimates of Undiscovered,

Economically Recoverable Oil and Gas

Resources for the Outer Continental Shelf as of

July 1984: Minerals Management Service, OCS

Report, MMS 85-0012, 45 p.

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Revised as of January 1990: Minerals

Management Service, OCS Report, MMS 91-

0051, 30 p.

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Marlow, M.S., Cooper, A.K., Scholl, D.W., and McLean, Worrall, D.M., 1991, Tectonic history of the Bering Sea

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active plate margins, Leggett, J.H., ed.,

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Moore, T.E., Wallace, W.K., Bird, K.J., Karl, S.M.,

Mull, C.G., and Dillon, J.T., 1992, Stratigraphy,

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Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open File

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June, 1993, by Dev George, p. 19-22.

OGJ, 1993b, Alaska’s Cook Inlet basin slated for

rebound in drilling: Oil and Gas Journal, May

24, 1993, p. 23-26.

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W.E., Irving, J.S., Jamison, H.C., and White,

G.J., 1991, Alaskan Oil and Gas - Energy

Wealth or Vanishing Opportunity?: U.S.

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H1, prepared by EG&G Idaho, Inc., Idaho

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of the Bering Shelf: Geological Society of

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The Department of the Interior Mission

As the Nation's principal conservation agency, the Department of the Interior has responsibility for

most of our nationally owned public lands and natural resources. This includes fostering sound use of

our land and water resources; protecting our fish, wildlife, and biological diversity; preserving the

environmental and cultural values of our national parks and historical places;

and providing for the enjoyment of life through outdoor recreation. The Department assesses our

energy and mineral resources and works to ensure that their development is in the best interests of all

our people by encouraging stewardship and citizen participation in their care. The Department also

has a major responsibility for American Indian reservation communities and for people who live in

island territories under U.S. administration.

The Minerals Management Service Mission

As a bureau of the Department of the Interior, the Minerals Management Service's (MMS) primary

responsibilities are to manage the mineral resources located on the Nation's Outer Continental Shelf

(OCS), collect revenue from the Federal OCS and onshore Federal and Indian lands, and distribute

those revenues.

Moreover, in working to meet its responsibilities, the Offshore Minerals Management Program

administers the OCS competitive leasing program and oversees the safe and environmentally sound

exploration and production of our Nation's offshore natural gas, oil and other mineral resources. The

MMS Royalty Management Program meets its responsibilities by ensuring the efficient, timely and

accurate collection and disbursement of revenue from mineral leasing and production due to Indian

tribes and allottees, States and the U.S. Treasury.

The MMS strives to fulfill its responsibilities through the general guiding principles of: (1) being

responsive to the public's concerns and interests by maintaining a dialogue with all potentially affected

parties and (2) carrying out its programs with an emphasis on working to enhance the quality of life for

all Americans by lending MMS assistance and expertise to economic development and environmental

protection.