US govt asked to release data on Alaska oil reserve
Date: 02-Apr-02
Country: USA
Sen. Jeff Bingaman, a New Mexico Democrat, said drilling in the National Petroleum Reserve (NPR) - where energy firms are already searching for oil - could be an alternative to Congress opening up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
"I request that the latest estimates regarding oil and gas resources in the NPR...be made available to the Senate at this time," Bingaman said in a letter on Wednesday to Interior Secretary Gale Norton.
The Interior Department's new estimates on energy reserves in the Petroleum Reserve are undergoing internal review and are not scheduled to be released until May.
"This information would be extremely useful to the Senate as we debate the future of the environmentally sensitive coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge," Bingaman said.
"Knowing the extent of alternative supplies of oil and gas is of assistance in the debate on whether drilling should be allowed in the Arctic refuge," he added.
The 23-million acre Petroleum Reserve was created in 1923 to provide crude for military security. Government surveyors found oil in the area as early as 1917. In 1999, the Interior Department opened about 4 million acres in the reserve's northeast corner to development. The government will offer oil companies more tracts for leasing this June.
The department's old estimates say the NPR could hold 1.8 billion to 4.7 billion barrels of recoverable oil. The new estimates are expected to be much higher, reflecting improvements in drilling and exploration technology.
Bingaman and most other Senate Democrats are opposed to opening the Arctic refuge, fearing the caribou, polar bears and other wildlife in the area would be harmed.
The Bush administration and most Republicans want to modify a pending energy bill to allow access to the Arctic refuge's potential 16 billion barrels of crude and help reduce U.S. dependence on foreign oil imports, especially from volatile Middle East countries like Iraq.
Senate Majority Tom Daschle has said he wants to force a vote on the Republican plan to open the refuge when lawmakers return from their spring recess in early April.
A Reuters survey of the Senate's 100 members just before the congressional recess found that 50 senators would vote against drilling in the refuge. Forty lawmakers said they would support opening the refuge and 10 members were undecided.