Gulf of Alaska may offer best prospects for oil and gas

The first of Alaska's frontier offshore areas to be opened to wildcatting, according to the federal government's schedule, will be the Gulf of Alaska. The Interior Department plans a lease sale in the northeastern portion of the Gulf in Dec. The sale is scheduled to be the first of 3 federal sales in the Gulf over the next 3 yr. Five additional federal sales are scheduled over the same 3-yr period for offshore acreage in the Beaufort Sea, Bering Sea, Bristol Bay, and Chukchi, Sea. Due to coming sales, there is record seismic activity this summer in Alaskan waters, with at least 24 vessels working or assigned to geophysical projects. The greatest concentration of geophysical activity is in the Gulf of Alaska, which the petroleum industry in response to an Interior Department survey selected as the offshore area possessing the greatest oil and gas potential in the U.S.