The Swanson River Oilfield, in the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge, is the site of the first commercial oil development in Alaska, in 1957. Much of the oil and gas development in the watershed occurs offshore as platforms and pipelines to terminals on both sides of Cook Inlet. Cook Inlet is the only estuary in the US that receives discharge of drilling wastes; all other drilling and extraction activity in estuaries operates under 'zero discharge' rules. Both the Alaska Department of Natural Resources Division of Oil and Gas, and the federal government's Mineral Management Service have held and continue to hold lease sales in and around the inlet. The current sale is outlined in red- the state's Cook Inlet Areawide sale. Every year for the next nine years the tracts are offered for bid. Click in the center of the map to zoom in.
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Last modified 25 October 2005