BREAKING: Massive Oil Field Discovered in USA; Biggest Find in DECADES
An oil company has discovered a massive find of oil on Alaska’s North Slope that could change America’s energy independence for a very long time.
The 1.2-billion-barrel find is the largest onshore discovery of conventional oil in more than 30 years. It was made in just the past few days by Spanish oil giant Repsol and their U.S. partners Armstrong Energy.
They estimate that they could get the oil out of the ground and begin production as soon as 2021, producing as much as 120,000 barrels of oil per day. Currently, the entire state produces about 490,000 barrels per day.
The discovery is about 20 miles south of where the two companies already found oil in a project they’re calling Pikka. They own the project area, so there are no environmental restrictions keeping them from getting it out of the ground and to market.
“The interesting thing about this discovery is the North Slope was previously thought to be on its last legs. But this is a significant emerging find,” Repsol spokesman Kristian Rix told CNNMoney.
Repsol has been actively exploring in Alaska since 2008 and has an additional presence in the Gulf of Mexico. Shares of the oil and gas company jumped nearly 3% in Madrid trading on Friday.
The North Slope find comes less than six months after Caelus Energy and private-equity giant Apollo Global Management announced a massive Alaska oil discovery in the waters of Smith Bay.
This all comes as great news for Alaska, which has seen oil production fall steadily from a high 30 years ago. The state has had to impose a hiring freeze and limit employee travel. Alaska relies on taxes from oil revenue for a vast majority of their state revenue.
Things have gotten so bad that the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System is barely being used these days.
“This is also great news for the State of Alaska,” Alaska Governor Bill Walker said in a statement. “We must all pull together to fill an oil pipeline that’s three-quarters empty.”
Leftists and environmental groups will certainly try to stop the project from happening, but with President Donald Trump at the helm, it might prove more difficult than before.
Source: The Federalist Paper