By J Walker Glascock, Contributor

The Dallas-based Caelus Energy Alaska LLC announced on Tuesday a discovery of 6 billion barrels of light oil in Smith Bay off Alaska’s North Slope; 450 miles north of Fairbanks and 300 miles above the Arctic Circle. If estimates are accurate, the recent find could prove to be one of the largest fields ever discovered in Alaska.

The site, located in the shallow waters of Smith Bay, southeast of Barrow – Alaska’s northernmost city – could eventually deliver 200,000 barrels per day of “highly mobile oil” into the trans-Alaska pipeline, according to a statement released by the company.

While noting that such figures do not include analysis by a third-party engineering company, Caelus says it believes that the numbers do indicate the site could be even larger than the Alpine unit of ConocoPhilips, which reached a peak output of 139,000 barrels per day (BPD) in 2007 after beginning production in the year 2000, reported the Alaska Dispatch News. ….read more here