News release: “For the first time, the U.S. Geological Survey has estimated the potential of undiscovered, technically recoverable oil and gas resources in source rocks—in this case shale—of the Alaska North Slope. The estimates range from 0 up to 2 billion barrels of oil and from 0 up to 80 trillion cubic feet of gas. There historically has been significant oil and gas production from Alaska’s North Slope, but industry efforts have concentrated on conventional resources rather than continuous resources. As a result, production has never been attempted from shale formations of the Alaska North Slope, making them an unexplored frontier for shale-oil and shale-gas resources. The recent success of shale oil and shale gas development in the lower-48 states demonstrates the technical viability of such resources. Therefore, this new USGS assessment provides an estimate of potential resources that may be technically viable in this frontier region.”