Oil
In Alaska, evidence of oil and gas reserves beneath the ground were first discovered by the Eskimos long before the first white explorers moved into the region. Blocks of oil-soaked tundra were cut from the ground by Natives to better fuel their fires.

Many years later the first drilling took place in the Iniskin area in 1898 which was extremely early considering the remoteness of Alaska. More wells were being discovered throughout the land bringing more activity to the state. In the early 1900's the discovery of an enormous oil field on the shores of the Beaufort Sea in Prudhoe Bay was made. This and other oil discoveries resulted in a future where oil is now the number one resource in the State of Alaska.

Nearly 81% of the funding for state government is derived from royalties and taxes on oil. More than 300 million barrels have been discovered at the field at Prudhoe Bay. Other known, but undeveloped, North Slope oil reserves are estimated to exceed 18,000 million barrels.


Graph by: AK Division of Trade and Development
Text by: Alaska's Oil/Gas & Minerals Industry (Pg. 188-194,198),
The Great Alaska Pipeline (Pg. 1-2,11-15,18-19),
The Alaska Pipeline (Pg. 5-10,12-18,25-29)
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