Oil
Opinion: Rethinking Alaska’s state seal for the modern era
By Dave Norton The seal of the State of Alaska. (ADN archive) This year, Alaska celebrates 70 years since our state constitution was created. And yet the official state seal that was adopted then fails to acknowledge Alaska’s Indigenous identities and all of our state’s resources. State seals are official symbols used to visually represent…
Read MoreOn This Day in History: The Discovery of the Beluga River Gas Field
On December 1, 1962, a pivotal moment in Alaska’s energy history unfolded when the Standard Oil Company of California (SoCal) drilled the Beluga River Unit #1 well and uncovered what would become one of the state’s most productive natural gas fields—the Beluga River gas field, located just north of Cook Inlet and approximately 40 miles…
Read MoreThe President’s Visit to Pump Station #8 – Fairbanks, Alaska
On November 29, 1975, President Gerald Ford visited Fairbanks, Alaska, to tour the Trans Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS), including Pump Station #8, just before his historic trip to the People’s Republic of China. His visit highlighted the importance of energy independence, the nation’s growing oil infrastructure, and maintaining a balance with the Alaskan environment. Joined…
Read More🏆 AKOGHS Honored with the 2025 Esther Billman Award for Excellence
The Alaska Oil & Gas Historical Society (AKOGHS) is proud to share that our project, Voices of the North: Chronicles of Alaska’s Oil & Gas Pioneers, has received the 2025 Esther Billman Award for Excellence from the Alaska Historical Society. AKOGHS Honored with the 2025 Esther Billman Award for Excellence This award recognizes outstanding contributions…
Read MoreAKOGHS Board Members to Present at Alaska Historical Society Conference
The Alaska Oil & Gas Historical Society (AKOGHS) is proud to share that two of our board members will be presenting at the upcoming Alaska Historical Society Conference, taking place September 24–27, 2025 in Fairbanks. As part of Session 4: The Trans-Alaska Pipeline (Thursday, September 25, 2–3:30 p.m.), AKOGHS leaders will contribute their unique insights…
Read MoreThe Trans-Alaska Pipeline at 50 — what we’ve learned and what comes next
By Philip Wight Fifty years ago, Alaska experienced the biggest man-made earthquake in our history. The ground shook as heavy machinery forged a new road to the Arctic Ocean, hundreds of thousands of new people flooded into the state and tens of thousands of workers built an unprecedented pipeline system. In the words of former Gov.…
Read MoreThe First Oil Wells in the Alaska Arctic
By Ross NixonOriginally published in Alaska Business in November, 2018 The path to Alaska’s modern day oil prosperity began with a top priority and long forgotten WWII expedition. This mission was a true epic, worthy of remembrance. ‘The difficult we can do at once, the impossible takes a little longer.’ Alaskan people always knew some…
Read MoreStart of Something Big
Thomas Smith March 2, 2011Original Story An oil discovery in the Moose Range wilderness on Alaska’s Kenai Peninsula would bring a momentous change to the territory and have oil exploration implications far to the north. The discovery in Moose Range was the boost Alaska Territory woefully needed at a time when mining was down and…
Read More“Doesn’t he know it’s frozen?” How Alaska almost overlooked Prudhoe Bay
June 22, 2017 by Elizabeth Harball and Zoë Sobel, Alaska’s Energy Desk Tom Marshall was a geologist and a land selection officer for Alaska in the 1960s. He was the driving force behind the state’s Prudhoe Bay selection. (Photo by Elizabeth Harball/Alaska’s Energy Desk) You could argue — and a lot of people do — that Alaska…
Read More‘Marshall’s Folly’ Changes Course of Alaska History
Discovery of Prudhoe Bay February 2015 Heather Saucier, Explorer Correspondent Original Story Here It wasn’t easy, that’s for sure. But AAPG member Tom Marshall – a geologist who moved to Alaska in his early 30s, enamored by the idea of homesteading in the Matanuska-Susitna Valley – managed to change the future of the entire state with…
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