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Prudhoe Bay (IPA: ) is a census-designated place located in North Slope Borough in the U.S. state of Alaska. As of the 2000 census, the population of the CDP was 5. According to the United States Census Bureau, it is one of only eight places in the United States with a population of five people. The others are Storrie, California; Bear Head Lake, Minnesota; Baker, Missouri; Gross, Nebraska; Odell, New Hampshire; Maza, North Dakota; and Somerset, Vermont.
Despite the low census figures, Prudhoe Bay is actually quite a busy place; at any moment, there are several thousand temporary workers running the Prudhoe Bay oil field or supporting it in some way. The airport, lodging, and general store are clustered in a location called Deadhorse, while the rigs and processing facilities are located on scattered gravel "pads" laid on top of the tundra. Winter is just as busy as summer, since only at that time is the surface hard enough to support heavy equipment, and so all new construction happens then.
Commercial oil exploration started in Prudhoe Bay in the 1960s and the field was discovered in 1968 by Atlantic Richfield Company, but production did not begin until 1977 when the Alaska Pipeline was completed. Production peaked in 1988 at about 2 million barrels a day, but had fallen to below 1 million barrels a day by May 2005. *, or roughly 300 million barrels a year. Total production from 1977 through 2005 has been 13 billion barrels. As of December 2005, it is estimated that only 3 billion barrels are left (recoverable), which is roughly 10 years of production at the current rate. In terms of recoverable oil, the Prudhoe Bay field is the largest in the United States, more than double the size of the East Texas oil field, the second largest.
A small number of tourists, many arriving by bus after a two-day ride up the Dalton Highway from Fairbanks, come to see the tundra, the Arctic Ocean, and the midnight sun, staying in extremely basic lodgings assembled from "modular" buildings.
Geography
Prudhoe Bay is located at 70°19'32" North, 148°42'41" West (70.325490, -148.711387).
According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of 1,445.3 km² (558.0 mi²). 1,078.1 km² (416.3 mi²) of it is land and 367.2 km² (141.8 mi²) of it is water. The total area is 25.40% water.
Demographics
As of the census of 2000, there is one household in the town, consisting of one married couple between 25 and 44 and two boys and one girl under 18; the median age of the family is 12 years. One person is White, one is Native American, and three from two or more races. The income for this household is $90,957, or $19,880 per capita. The population density is 0.0/km². There is 1 housing unit.
2006 Oil spill
On March 2, 2006, a worker for BP Exploration (Alaska) discovered a large oil spill in western Prudhoe Bay. At least 267,000 gallons spilled, making it the largest oil spill on Alaska's north slope to date. *
External links
Census-designated places in Alaska | North Slope Borough, Alaska | Oil fields of the United States
"Prudhoe Bay, Alaska"