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field and a few other producing oil fields, there are scattered
throughout the North Slope just a few isolated Eskimo
communities.
Because of its isolation and remoteness, labor, materials,
equipment, and support services for major construction projects
on the North Slope–-in particular, for construction and
installation of the Prudhoe Bay oil field equipment and
facilities–-must be imported, which significantly increases the
costs of construction and of performing work on the North Slope.
The oil companies’ total $11 billion capital cost, in the 1970's
and early 1980's, of installing and constructing the Prudhoe Bay
oil field equipment and facilities was more than four times what
the total cost would have been to install and construct a
comparable oil field in the lower 48 States.
Alaska Oil and Gas Leases Relating to, and Discovery
of, Oil Reserves in the Prudhoe Bay Oil Field
In 1959, by the Alaska Statehood Law of 1958, Pub. L. 85-
508, 72 Stat. 339, the Federal Government authorized the new
State of Alaska to select 103,350,000 acres of Federal lands
within the boundaries of Alaska to become State lands. Alaska
selected approximately 1.6 million acres on the North Slope
between the Colville and Canning Rivers.
In 1964, the State of Alaska began to offer to oil and gas
companies oil and gas exploration and development leases on its
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Last modified: May 25, 2011