‘Secret in North’

Your editorial “Secret in the North” (March 20) is based on a couple of faulty premises, which I’d like to correct.

- The confidentiality period you refer to is provided by state law and does not involve the federal government.

- The regular 25-month confidentiality period expires on May 24. However, provisions in state law allow for an extension in the confidentiality period--at the request of a well’s operator--pending the disposition of unleased land in the vicinity.

Chevron intends to apply for extended confidentiality prior to the expiration of the 25-month confidentiality period.

Incidentally, to imply that 500 wells are necessary to determine if commercial reserves are present on the Coastal Plain is misleading. The 1.5 million-acre Alaska National Wildlife Refugee Coastal Plain is much smaller than the overthrust belt, which runs through Nevada, Wyoming, Idaho and into Canada. Many of the fields discovered in the overthrust belt are not large enough to be considered commercial if they were in the Arctic environment of the Coastal Plain, and they would not be drilled.

The industry anticipates a relatively small number of exploratory wells will be needed to evaluate the potential of the 26 prospect areas outlined in the Department of Interior resource assessment of the Coastal Plain.

W.J. FASSLER

Regional Vice President

Chevron

Los Angeles