North Slope oil decline leaves Alaskans somber

Alaskan North Slope oil production, once heralded as a domestic mother lode, has hit a new output low — embodying the precarious balance confronting the U.S. as it struggles for energy security in an era of volatility in the international oil market.

..The decline in Alaska is led by a slump in output from the once-mammoth Prudhoe Bay field, which has been producing since 1969. At its height in fiscal 1988, the field produced an average of 1.6 million barrels per day; but in fiscal 2005, it was down to 381,000 barrels per day. Overall production in the North Slope has dropped to an average of 916,000 barrels per day from 2.01 million barrels in the same period.

In Alaska, re-boosting output is as much dictated by politics as it is by geology.

While President Bush’s administration has pushed for opening a pristine refuge believed to hold about 10 billion barrels of recoverable crude oil, environmentalists argue such a move would only temporarily delay the inevitable while ruining the delicate Arctic habitat.

Chron.com