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Parnell's challenge (Full story)
Alaska Gov. Sean Parnell is proposing the state and federal governments partner on an oil and gas exploration campaign on the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
To help pay for it, Parnell says he'll ask state legislators to chip in $50 million.
The goal, says the governor, is to....
Parnell's challenge (Full story)
Alaska Gov. Sean Parnell is proposing the state and federal governments partner on an oil and gas exploration campaign on the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
To help pay for it, Parnell says he'll ask state legislators to chip in $50 million.
The goal, says the governor, is to....
An evolving situation (Full story)
The nightmare began around mid-day on Dec. 27 when the towline parted between Shell's anchor handling vessel, the Aiviq, and the Kulluk, the company's floating drilling platform, leaving the Kulluk adrift in the Gulf of Alaska with a crew of 18 on board. The Aiviq had been towing the Kulluk from Dut....
An evolving situation (Full story)
The nightmare began around mid-day on Dec. 27 when the towline parted between Shell's anchor handling vessel, the Aiviq, and the Kulluk, the company's floating drilling platform, leaving the Kulluk adrift in the Gulf of Alaska with a crew of 18 on board. The Aiviq had been towing the Kulluk from Dut....
Peace overtures renewed (Full story)
Alberta Premier Alison Redford made the first overture. “I know we can do more together,” she said.
Her Energy Minister Ken Hughes declared: “This is not a time for hard positions or difficult conversations. This is a time for all of us to reflect upon what we have in common ... and being open to ho....
Trans Mountain expansion gets initial OK (Full story)
Kinder Morgan Canada has cleared its first regulatory hurdle in pursuit of approval to expand its Trans Mountain pipeline system to 890,000 barrels per day of capacity from 300,000 bpd.
Canada's National Energy Board ratified commercial aspects of the proposal, rejecting claims by Suncor Energy and....
Expansion of Oooguruk Nuiqsut PA approved, adding 39M barrels (Full story)
The State of Alaska has approved a 2,400-acre expansion of the Nuiqsut participating area at Pioneer Natural Resources Alaska's North Slope Oooguruk field.
The expansion is projected to add 39 million barrels of recoverable crude oil to the original participating area estimate of 45-102 million bar....
USCG issues a strategy for future Arctic operations by the agency (Full story)
Having ramped up its operations in recent Arctic open water seasons, as vessel traffic and industrial activity in the region increases and sea ice diminishes, the U.S. Coast Guard has published a strategy for the agency's future Arctic presence.
“This document is a theater strategy for the U.S. Coas....
Stedman: SB 21 moves too much cash
Sen. Bert Stedman advocated for tax reform, just not Senate Bill 21, which Gov. Sean Parnell made official on May 21.
Stedman is a holdover from the old guard — meaning members of the Senate's majority caucus from the 2011-12 Legislature — who wanted a change, but he believes the formula approved th....
Arctic gets economic push
The eight-nation Arctic Council signed a legally binding pact in Sweden earlier in May on oil spill prevention measures while also placing the spotlight on “creating economic development” in the region.
Leona Aglukkaq, a Canadian government cabinet minister who has started a two-year term as council....
Polar to buy Point Thomson area leases
Polar Petroleum (Alaska) Corp. is looking to buy a plot of leases north of Point Thomson.
The small independent recently signed a letter of intent to purchase 100 percent working interest in 12 leases north of the ExxonMobil-operated unit on the eastern North Slope.
Polar Petroleum currently operate....
European Commission investigating oil benchmark prices
The European Commission, the executive branch of the European Union, announced on May 14 that its officials had conducted unannounced inspections at the premises of several companies involved in the oil industry in Europe. The commission said that it had “concerns that the companies may have collude....
India's H-Energy unveils Canadian LNG
One of India's largest privately held corporations has disclosed more details of its plan to export LNG from the Canadian province of Nova Scotia.
Just days after reaching an agreement with the Nova Scotia government, H-Energy rolled out the details of a C$3 billion LNG liquefaction plant and export....
DOE approves second LNG export license
The U.S. Department of Energy Office of Fossil Energy has conditionally approved liquefied natural gas export from the Freeport LNG Terminal on Quintana Island, Texas, to countries that do not have a Free Trade Agreement with the United States.
DOE had approved LNG export from the facility to FTA c....
Kuukpik permitting Nuiqsut spur road
A project related to ConocoPhillips Alaska's development of CD-5 in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska is in the permitting process with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Kuukpik Corp., the village corporation for Nuiqsut, is permitting the 5.8 mile Nuiqsut Spur Road which would connect the vill....
Buccaneer sets casing at Cosmo
Buccaneer Energy Ltd. has run and cemented surface casing at its Cosmo No. 1 well.
The Australian independent said the offshore well has reached 800 feet as of May 20, the depth planned for surface casing. Buccaneer plans to drill to a target depth of 8,000 feet.
The company plans to set intermediat....
All state areas closed for tundra travel
All state lands on Alaska's North Slope were closed for tundra travel as of May 20.
Closures began May 13 when the Alaska Department of Natural Resources closed the Lower Foothills opening area to all off-road travel activities, with a 72-hour window for completion of all off-road travel currently....
FNG challenges Spectrum case
As it seeks to expand its service area in the Interior, Fairbanks Natural Gas LLC is saying that another player in the liquefied natural gas game should not become a party to the case.
In recent filings with the Regulatory Commission of Alaska, Spectrum Alaska LLC asked to join the case, saying its....
New oil skimmers heading for Cook Inlet
A new state-of-the-art design of oil skimmer is going to replace some older style skimmers, as part of the arsenal of equipment maintained for responding to any offshore oil spill in Alaska's Cook Inlet, according to the Cook Inlet Regional Citizens' Advisory Council. An article in the council's May.... |
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IEA: US oil causing ‘ripple effect'
The rise of North American oil supplies is an even bigger deal than you thought.
The growth in domestic oil supplies from unconventional sources may be well known, but several technical and political factors are compounding its influence, according to a five-year outlook on the global oil market fro....
Fair treatment of gas pipeline customers
To make sure they play fair, gas pipeline companies must wall off their staffers who run the line from those who market gas to buyers.
It might be a virtual wall. It might be a physical one. Whatever its form, the wall must be impenetrable, so there's no improper water-cooler talk between employees....
Cook Inlet Energy draws up Sword plans
Cook Inlet Energy LLC says it has contracted a rig to drill its Sword well adjacent to the company's producing West McArthur River field.
Patterson-UTI Drilling Co.'s rig 191 will do the job. Patterson has more than 300 land-based rigs operating in the Lower 48, Alaska and western and northern Canad....
Parnell signs oil tax, in-state gas bills
Alaska Gov. Sean Parnell signed his oil tax change into law at a meeting of the Anchorage Chamber of Commerce May 21. In addition to Senate Bill 21, the oil tax change, the governor also signed House Bill 4, authorizing the in-state gas pipeline project to move forward, and two bills making changes....
Short-term gas contracts for Enstar
Amid continuing concerns about winter utility gas supplies in Southcentral Alaska, Enstar Natural Gas Co., the region's main gas utility, has obtained two new short-term gas supply contracts, to bolster its firm gas supplies during the third quarter of 2013, according to a tariff advice that Enstar....
Moniz becomes new energy secretary
Ernest Moniz, Ph.D., has been sworn in as the new secretary of energy, after the U.S. Senate confirmed his appointment on May 16, the Department of Energy said May 21.
“I look forward to the progress we will make together in the coming years — advancing the president's all-of-the-above energy strate....
BLM legacy well plan praised, rapped
A top Alaska drilling regulator has critiqued the U.S. Bureau of Land Management's recently released draft strategic plan for dealing with derelict federal legacy wells on Alaska's North Slope.
Her assessment: Good start, guys. But you will need to do more, and do it faster.
“The strategy, which add....
Oil Patch Bits: UMIAQ announces Wolski as new engineering manager
UMIAQ LLC said May 13 that Michael Wolski, P.E., has been named engineering manager for its Engineering Department. Wolski is a University of Alaska graduate with more than 20 years of experience designing, managing and coordinating civil engineering projects throughout the state of Alaska. He is a....
Oil Patch Bits: Golder Assoc. Anchorage office welcomes Twitchell
Golder Assoc. said May 14 that it would like to welcome Olin Twitchell, a junior level fisheries biologist, to its Anchorage office. Prior to joining Golder, Twitchell worked as a biological science technician for the Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Sa....
Oil Patch Bits: Crowley's CPD ‘Alaska Safe Truck Fleet of the Year'
Crowley said April 30 that its Alaska petroleum distribution subsidiary, CPD Alaska LLC, was recently honored with the “Alaska Safe Truck Fleet of the Year” and the “Most Improved Fleet” awards during customer ConocoPhillips' and the Alaska Trucking Association annual Safety Awards Banquet, held in....
Mining News: Deafening silence arises from explorers (Full story)
Following a rising chorus of junior companies touting impressive exploration programs on mineral prospects across Alaska that reached its crescendo in 2011, a deafening silence is resonating across the Far North expanse in 2013. And in the junior mining sector, no news is bad news.
Mineral explorati....
Mining News: EPA doubles down on Bristol Bay study (Full story)
The second draft of U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Bristol Bay Assessment strengthens the notion that Pebble and other copper deposits in the Bristol Bay watershed are at risk of losing mining habitat due to the salmon population found there.
After spending about a year studying the area of....
Mining News: Unique explorer, distinct mineralization (Full story)
With a marketing campaign seemingly designed to send investors and their money running, Contango ORE Inc., also known as Core, may be the most unconventional mineral exploration company working in Alaska.
A presentation posted on the company's website in 2011 provides a sense of the explorer's unab....
Mining News: Bottom feeders hunt projects in Alaska (Full story)
The unseasonably, interminably, unspeakably cold spring that is delaying mineral exploration and development work in Alaska this year is being mimicked by a financial chill that is affecting Alaska exploration efforts just like it is the rest of the world. Not to put too fine a point on it, but from....
Mining News: Spring is in the air, let's go mining! (Full story)
Each year about this time, the sun begins to shine like never before, the rivers rise and the ice melts, the daylight hours grow longer, and miners across Alaska bend their shoulders to their avocation. While it is true that the endless problems we all face don't go away; nonetheless, they seem to t....
Mining News: Skittish markets hamper metals prices (Full story)
Scotiabank's Commodity Price Index, after losing significant ground in late 2012, started 2013 on a stronger note, climbing 3.8 percent in January before slipping 0.9 percent a month later, Scotiabank Vice President, Economics Patricia M. Mohr told a capacity crowd at 2013 Nunavut Mining Symposium i....
Mining News: Territory offers vast mineral potential (Full story)
There is a reason why Nunavut has one of the fastest-growing economies in Canada: mining.
With one operating gold mine at Meadowbank, two projects on the verge of startup at Hope Bay and Mary River , five projects advancing through the environmental assessment process at Meliadine, Back River, Hack....
Mining News: Producer clears hurdles at Meadowbank (Full story)
The story of the Meadowbank Mine in central Nunavut continues to be a tale of challenges met and obstacles conquered.
From the hour that its development was conceptualized in the middle of the past decade, the gold at Meadowbank has delivered a succession of hurdles for its developers – first Cumbe....
Mining News: Developer eyes Mount Milligan startup (Full story)
The Government of British Columbia's push in recent years for mine exploration and development in the northern region of the province is slowly bearing fruit. An early plum is Thompson Creek Metals Co. Inc.'s Mount Milligan copper-gold mine in north-central B.C., which is rolling toward startup in A.... |
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