This pretty much explains what happens with the Barrow Arch Gsad.
http://archives.datapages.com/data/bulletns/1984-85/data/pg/0069/0004/0650/0656c.htm?q=+textStrip:la textStrip:luna textStrip:formation textStrip:middle textStrip:magdalena textStrip:basin textStrip:colombia
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In the Early Cretaceous (mid-Neocomian),
the crest of the Barrow arch was near sea level along its entire length. Because of northeasterly sediment progradation during later Cretaceous time, the Barrow area became more deeply buried than the Prudhoe area, thus making the Prudhoe area the focal point for migrating oil and gas.
Beginning in the early(?) Tertiary, the Barrow area was slowly uplifted while the Prudhoe area subsided, thus beginning the process that resulted in the reversal of their relative elevations and the focus for migrating oil and gas. Studies show that the Prudhoe Bay field was tilted during the Tertiary, and some oil and gas escaped, migrated toward Barrow, and was trapped in the Kuparuk, West Sak, and Ugnu fields. This analysis suggests that most North Slope oil and gas were generated during the Cretaceous."
88E/Bex and Great Bear are both on the CENTRAL North Slope with 88E/Bex' s southern most lease boundary not far from where they make the definition between the Central NS and the Foothills to the Brooks Ranges.
88E/Bex and Great Bears Talitha are right on what has now been proven to be the Sweetspot with much of it into 88E/Bex's acreage rather than Great Bears.
" maybe on the foothills side of the arch there may be trapped resources that can not leech over the arch."
This is the current region of production that Conoco/Anardarko and Repsol/Armstrong (more to the west) are both now producing as well as stepping out exploration further west (Conoco/Anaradarko).
You can actually see the Conoco pads and rigs to the north west of Icewine towards the coast in that Satellite image posetd earlier.
"the paper I read stated that Great Bear had drilled into the bay side."
If your talking relative to Icewine yes its the bay side but as described above Great Bear is in fact immediately north of 88E/Bex acreage ON THE CENTRAL NS and quite a fair way from the bay.
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