Lessons Learned from the Gulf of Mexico, Applicable to Alaskan Oil Fields?

On August 20th – 30th, Ross Coen, ACEP’s published historian, will be traveling to Texas and Louisiana to interview oil industry personnel and government regulators for a research project comparing the “life cycles” of oil fields in Alaska and the Gulf Coast. The goal of the study is to understand how technological innovation and public policy affect the period of transition in mature oil fields when major oil companies begin to leave the fields and are replaced by smaller, often more aggressive independents. The Gulf region holds a number of historical lessons for Alaska as we face declining production in both Cook Inlet and the North Slope.