{"id":28233,"date":"2012-03-14T10:56:12","date_gmt":"2012-03-14T14:56:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/countingpips.com\/fx\/2012\/03\/14\/how-alaska-could-become-the-worlds-eighth-largest-oil-producer\/"},"modified":"2012-03-14T10:56:12","modified_gmt":"2012-03-14T14:56:12","slug":"how-alaska-could-become-the-worlds-eighth-largest-oil-producer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/fx\/2012\/03\/14\/how-alaska-could-become-the-worlds-eighth-largest-oil-producer\/","title":{"rendered":"How Alaska Could Become the World\u2019s Eighth-Largest Oil Producer"},"content":{"rendered":"<div align=\"left\"><script type=\"text\/javascript\">\ntweetmeme_style = 'compact';\n<\/script><br \/>\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"http:\/\/tweetmeme.com\/i\/scripts\/button.js\"><\/script>\n<\/div>\n<div><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-28164\" title=\"Oil in Alaska: What it Means for Oil Companies (RDSA, XOM, COP, TRP)\" src=\"http:\/\/www.investmentu.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/oil-in-alaska.jpg\" alt=\"Oil in Alaska: What it Means for Oil Companies (RDSA, XOM, COP, TRP)\" width=\"220\" height=\"220\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Alaska could become the eight-largest oil producer in the world, and these oil companies are gearing up to profit from it.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>It\u2019s one for the record books&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>But hardly anyone is talking about it&#8230; yet.<\/p>\n<p>According to the U.S. Geological Survey, Alaska\u2019s North Slope shale formation could hold as much as 80 trillion cubic feet of natural gas and two billion barrels of <a title=\"What Really Drives Crude Oil Prices?\" href=\"http:\/\/www.investmentu.com\/2011\/August\/what-drives-crude-oil-prices.html\" target=\"_blank\">crude oil<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><em>BusinessWeek<\/em> says it could be \u201cthe second-largest U.S. deposit of unconventional crude after the Bakken in North Dakota and\u2026 the fourth-largest gas-shale deposit after Marcellus in the Northeast, Haynesville in Texas and Louisiana, and the Eagle Ford&#8230;\u201d<\/p>\n<p>By itself, this is already a major discovery. But here\u2019s where things get really interesting&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>The USGS is only talking about onshore oil and gas potential.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Royal Dutch Shell<\/strong> (NYSE: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.google.com\/finance?q=RDSA\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">RDSA<\/a>) released its own statement pointing out Alaska\u2019s offshore oil and gas estimates.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Alaska\u2019s Outer Continental Shelf<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Shell executive David Lawrence revealed to Rigzone.com last week, \u201cWhen you look at offshore, you\u2019re looking at 25 billion barrels of oil [and] 120 trillion cubic feet of gas, so it\u2019s a major resource that can compete in any arena we look at globally.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In fact, Alaska\u2019s Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) alone may hold more oil than the Pacific and Atlantic OCS combined.<\/p>\n<p>And CNS News reports, \u201cA new study says drilling on Alaska\u2019s Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) could make Alaska the eighth-largest oil resource province in the world &#8211; ahead of Nigeria, Libya, Russia and Norway.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The state\u2019s 200 trillion cubic feet of potential offshore <a title=\"Natural Gas: Another Great Contrarian Investment in 2012\" href=\"http:\/\/www.investmentu.com\/2012\/January\/natural-gas-contrarian-investment.html\" target=\"_blank\">natural gas<\/a>, while less than the Marcellus and Haynesville shale formations, is still a major find.<\/p>\n<p>Quietly, <strong>Exxon Mobil<\/strong> (NYSE: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.google.com\/finance?q=XOM\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">XOM<\/a>), <strong>ConocoPhillips<\/strong> (NYSE: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.google.com\/finance?q=COP\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">COP<\/a>) and many other major players from around the world are gearing up to drill.<\/p>\n<p>Shell has already spent over $4 billion researching Alaska\u2019s OCS over the past several years. And it hasn\u2019t even started drilling yet. It won\u2019t likely begin until July.<\/p>\n<p>And here\u2019s the best part&#8230;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Easy Drilling Makes for Safer Drilling<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><em>The Wall Street Journal<\/em> reports Lawrence also mentioned, \u201c&#8230;drilling in the Alaskan Arctic is \u2018relatively easy\u2019 because it\u2019s done in relatively shallow waters and under relative low pressure and Shell already knows a lot about the region\u2019s geology.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The easier it is to drill, the safer it is, and the more likely it is for <a title=\"Three Beat Up Oil and Gas Plays Set to Outperform the Market\" href=\"http:\/\/www.investmentu.com\/2011\/October\/three-oil-and-gas-investments.html\" target=\"_blank\">oil and gas companies<\/a> to turn a huge profit.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s also worth mentioning the Trans-Alaska oil pipeline already runs from the Alaska North Slope region and is fully operational.<\/p>\n<p>On the other hand, <strong>TransCanada<\/strong> (NYSE: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.google.com\/finance?q=TRP\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">TRP<\/a>) and Exxon still need to secure a natural gas pipeline that will run from Prudhoe Bay to the United States and then later split to Canada. This project likely won\u2019t be complete until 2018 and is expected to cost as much as $26 billion.<\/p>\n<p>President Obama, the state of Alaska, and the U.S. Department of the Interior are all fully supportive of this energy initiative. And despite potential risks and challenges, this opportunity is simply too important for the United States to pass up.<\/p>\n<p>We\u2019ll definitely be talking more about this development in <em>Investment U <\/em>as it unfolds. So just be sure to keep checking your inbox for potential opportunities.<\/p>\n<p>Good Investing,<\/p>\n<p>Mike Kapsch<\/p>\n<div>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/InvestmentU?a=5fdWlKx8Vm8:zHVkFn2Lc-8:yIl2AUoC8zA\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/InvestmentU?d=yIl2AUoC8zA\" border=\"0\"><\/img><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/InvestmentU?a=5fdWlKx8Vm8:zHVkFn2Lc-8:V_sGLiPBpWU\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/InvestmentU?i=5fdWlKx8Vm8:zHVkFn2Lc-8:V_sGLiPBpWU\" border=\"0\"><\/img><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/InvestmentU?a=5fdWlKx8Vm8:zHVkFn2Lc-8:qj6IDK7rITs\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/InvestmentU?d=qj6IDK7rITs\" border=\"0\"><\/img><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/InvestmentU?a=5fdWlKx8Vm8:zHVkFn2Lc-8:gIN9vFwOqvQ\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/InvestmentU?i=5fdWlKx8Vm8:zHVkFn2Lc-8:gIN9vFwOqvQ\" border=\"0\"><\/img><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/InvestmentU?a=5fdWlKx8Vm8:zHVkFn2Lc-8:F7zBnMyn0Lo\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/InvestmentU?i=5fdWlKx8Vm8:zHVkFn2Lc-8:F7zBnMyn0Lo\" border=\"0\"><\/img><\/a>\n<\/div>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~r\/InvestmentU\/~4\/5fdWlKx8Vm8\" height=\"1\" width=\"1\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Article by <a href=\"http:\/\/www.investmentu.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Investment U<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Alaska could become the eight-largest oil producer in the world, and these oil companies are gearing up to profit from it. It\u2019s one for the record books&#8230; But hardly anyone is talking about it&#8230; yet. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, Alaska\u2019s North Slope shale formation could hold as much as 80 trillion cubic feet &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/fx\/2012\/03\/14\/how-alaska-could-become-the-worlds-eighth-largest-oil-producer\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;How Alaska Could Become the World\u2019s Eighth-Largest Oil Producer&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28233","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/fx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28233","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/fx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/fx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/fx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/fx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28233"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/fx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28233\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/fx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28233"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/fx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28233"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/fx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28233"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}