domestic resources. Construction and full-scale operation of the 

 Trans-Alaska Pipeline System, which includes marine transporta- 

 tion from Port Valdez, Alaska, to various west coast ports, will 

 provide two million barrels of oil daily, a rate equal to one-third of 

 present import levels. Our interest in rapidly increasing our supply 

 of domestic oil and in reducing the balance of payments problem 

 associated with imports will be best served by the Alaskan pipeline. 

 As part of the overall transportation problem, the Federal Govern- 

 ment is planning programs to detect and control oil spillage or other 

 pollution and to augment forecasts of marine weather and operating 

 conditions along the tanker routes. 



For a number of years, increasing domestic offshore oil and gas 

 production has slightly more than offset an accelerating decline in 

 onshore production. In 1972, however, total domestic petroleum 

 production began declining, while the demand for oil products 

 continued to increase. The growth in demand necessitated lifting 

 import quotas to avoid possible shortages. Future oil imports will be 

 subject to license fee rather than quota. The untapped petroleum 

 potentials of the continental shelves appear large, and if developed 

 more rapidly, would significantly improve levels of total domestic 

 production. Within a given region, development of reserves to meet 

 national needs must be balanced against a number of economic, 

 social, and environmental factors, such as other uses of promising 

 areas (including uses related to recreation, esthetics, and national 

 security), and natural conditions and hazards that may affect safety 

 of the operations. With industry cooperation, the Federal 

 Government is intensifying efforts to identify and lease the most 

 promising regions, and to collect and evaluate data that will enable 

 sound resource management decisions. 



In the following sections, marine technological aspects of the 

 petroleum supply problem are discussed in more detail. 



Deepwater Ports 



The expanding fleet of supertankers that now serves Europe, 

 Japan, and other foreign areas having deepwater ports has 

 demonstrated the economy and other benefits of transporting oil by 

 this means. Using supertankers rather than smaller vessels to 

 deliver oil from the Middle East to the Atlantic and Gulf coasts of the 

 United States would allow major savings in transportation costs. 



Although cost savings and other economic benefits will be 

 significant, a major advantage of the use of supertankers is the 

 smaller number of ships and operations required, thereby lessening 

 the chances of oil spillage through collisions or cargo handling. 

 Offshore placement of the superports would offer the added 

 advantages of reducing risk of groundings, traffic density, and 

 potential damage to beaches and the nearshore. Yet another environ- 

 mental advantage of offshore superports is that they will permit the 

 use of new VLCC's with double bottoms and segregated ballast 

 tanks. 



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