U.S. to Study Prospects in Alaska Oil Reserve

The Clinton administration said it has agreed to explore the oil prospects in an Arctic Coast petroleum reserve, a move Alaska had sought to boost its sagging oil income. The Interior Department plans to study potential drilling areas and the environmental steps that would be needed to protect wildlife in the northeastern part of the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska. The reserve, a 23-million-acre area that stretches across the western part of Alaska’s North Slope, was set aside as a Navy oil stockpile in 1923. The reserve is west of Prudhoe Bay, the mainstay of Alaska’s oil industry, and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, an area that remains closed to oil exploration. State officials have focused on winning approval for drilling in the wildlife refuge, which they believe offers the best prospect for a big oil strike to offset declining production at Prudhoe Bay. The reserve, however, could help pad the petroleum royalties the state collects and keep oil flowing through the trans-Alaska pipeline, state officials said.