Alaska Drilling Will Yield 6 Months' Worth Of Oil

19 March 2005 - 9:00am

The U.S. Geological Survey estimates that drilling in Alaska's pristine Artic National Wildlife Refuge could yield 10.4 billion barrels of oil. Critics says that represents 6 months' supply for the U.S.

"The oil is expected to be found on the northern Alaskan coastal plain, but drilling is not expected to start until 2007 at the earliest, taking 10 years to come fully on stream. The US Geological Survey estimates there could be anywhere between 5.6 billion and 16 billion barrels of recoverable oil there, with the most likely amount being 10.4 billion barrels...

A 10 billion barrel find, said Charles Clusen, Alaska project director of the Natural Resources Defence Council, would represent only about six months' supply of oil for the energy-voracious US economy which currently uses 20 million barrels a day."

Source: The Guardian Unlimited, March 18, 2005