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U.S. Navy Arctic Operations Operation Pet 4 Oil Exploration in Alaska North Slope 63624 (1948)

1948 · Short film · 18 min

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Synopsis

This 1948 color film US Navy Photographic Report MN-5377D reviews Equipment used at the Arctic Operations Naval (PET) Petroleum Reserve #4 (:27). This documents the work of the Seabees / CBs Construction Battalion Detachment (CBD) and their search for oil in Alaska and the arctic. The group boasted geologists, petroleum engineers, driller (oil), tool pushers, roustabouts and roughnecks. Congress earmarked $1,000,000 for Operation Pet 4 and it was decided to send them to Alaska to determine if there was actually oil in NPR 4 (U.S. Navy Petroleum Reserve No. 4), an area that had been set aside in the oil reserve 20 years earlier.The area is known today as the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska. The Detachment's mission was: to do a detailed geologic study, do core hole drilling, do deep well drilling, as well as do aerial and overland pipeline surveys. In 1944 a base camp was constructed a Point Barrow. During the summer of 1945 the Seabees drilled a 2000 foot wildcat designated Seabee 1 (wildcat wells) before being shut down by the cold. The well site was near 3 petroleum seepages in the Umiat area in the very south-east of NPR 4. The rock in the area was from the Upper Cretaceous and has been named the "Seabee Formation". In 1946 civilians took over for the Seabees some of whom had been members of CBD 1058 and were hired immediately upon discharge to continue in the same job they had performed for the Navy." The Navy drew upon the cold weather experience it learned from…

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Details

Running time
18 minutes
Collection
Ephemeral Films

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