In Memory of Sen. Ted Stevens: Ted Stevens: An Alaska mentor 08/29/2010
I braved the dusty AlCan Highway in my 1961 Ford station wagon after graduating from Colorado State in 1965. Rooming for a week in Anchorage's Parsons Hotel, I waved at the Beetles one afternoon in t...

In Memory of Sen. Ted Stevens: Senator Stevens' support of Arctic research 08/29/2010
Thanks to the tenacity of Ted Stevens, there is a functional first phase of a modern scientific research facility in Barrow
Sen. Ted Stevens played a key role in the development of science facilities throughout Alaska, particularly in rural Alaska. He felt that solutions based on science could help solve many of the pr...

In Memory of Sen. Ted Stevens: Stevens stood his ground for Alaska 08/29/2010
One piece at a time over 40 years, politics aside, Sen. Ted Stevens helped his state build a thriving oil and gas industry
Before Alaska could build an 800-mile long oil pipeline, sending Prudhoe Bay crude to market, there was a debt that needed repaying: land owed to Alaska Natives. It was a century old obligation that...

Mining News: Constantine expands VMS, gears up for gold 08/29/2010
As drills enlarge Palmer resource in Southeast Alaska, explorer seeks new targets with geophysics, plans to test gold targets next
Constantine Metal Resources Ltd.'s 7,500-meter drill program continues to unravel the complex geology of Glacier Creek Prospect at the Palmer copper-zinc-gold-silver project in Southeast Alaska. T...

Mining News: Juniors pour millions into Yukon projects 08/29/2010
Drilling, deep-imaging surveys top strategies as juniors join one major and sole producer in seeking new pockets of mineralization
DAWSON, Yukon Territory – Hardrock mining explorers are capitalizing on unprecedented investor interest and going after paying gold, silver, copper-rich porphyry, lead-zinc and other metal deposi...

Mining News: Resource quandary evokes famous poem 08/29/2010
Coleridge's 'water, water everywhere' calls to mind Alaska's dwindling revenue sources despite varied opportunities for prosperity
As we approach the 2010 primary election (which will be history by the time this article is read), it is worth pondering how rapidly Alaskans, like the crewmates of the Ancient Mariner, are plungin...

Mining News: Columnist tips hat to mine developers 08/29/2010
Explorers, miners often fail to appreciate contribution of those who specialize in converting what could be into what should be
In the last month, several of Alaska's major metal mines reported strong operating numbers; one company released a preliminary economic assessment and three new mineral exploration companies acquir...

Mining News: Japan plays key role in Alaska mining 08/29/2010
To further strengthen trade bonds with Pacific Rim neighbor, Alaska delegation provides minerals update to Tokyo business leaders
Japan is an important player in Alaska's mining industry. The island nation imports more than US$125 million in minerals from the Far North state annually and Tokyo-based businesses own the Pogo...

Mining News:Explorer expands metal-rich VMS at Niblack 08/29/2010
Heatherdale traces long sections of continuous mineralization through Lookout Mountain; new resource, geological model on the way
Heatherdale Resources Ltd., a subsidiary of Hunter Dickinson Inc., is living up to its pledge to aggressively explore the Niblack copper-gold-silver-zinc project on Prince of Wales Island in South...

Oil Patch Bits: Crowley announces promotion of Evans and Otero 08/29/2010
Crowley Maritime Corp said Aug. 19 that it is pleased to announce the promotion of Eric Evans and Tony Otero each to the role of vice president, finance and planning, supporting several different busi...

Canada's offshore in melting pot 08/29/2010
Drilling winds down at only well in Canadian waters as demands increase for tougher offshore and unconventional rules, more research and development spending, review of operator liability
The only deepwater well currently being drilled in Canadian waters is nearing completion in Newfoundland's Orphan Basin just ahead of what shapes up as a full-scale national debate on the future o...

Linc files for well in Point MacKenzie area 08/29/2010
The Alaska Coastal Management Program is reviewing Linc Energy's proposal to drill a well this fall in the Point MacKenzie area of the Matanuska-Susitna Borough. The Australian company wants to drill...

Northern Waters Task Force panel named 08/29/2010
On Aug. 23 Alaska Senate President Gary Stevens and House Speaker Mike Chenault announced the names of people appointed to serve on the Northern Waters Task Force. In March the Alaska Legislature pas...

DEC collecting Chukchi data 08/29/2010
The Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation in partnership with the University of Alaska School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences is collecting environmental data from the Chukchi Sea along the...

Steady progress in the southern Kenai 08/29/2010
Cook Inlet basin: Armstrong's headway at North Fork unit improves economics of three other prospects in area north of Homer
Just a few years ago, oil and gas development on Alaska's southern Kenai Peninsula was a chicken and egg situation. Now it's poised to become a hatchery. When Armstrong Cook Inlet brings its Nort...

Unconditional approval for LNG plant? 08/29/2010
Conoco, Marathon say new contracts should alleviate Alaska supply concerns through 2013, keep third party access open
The companies that own the liquefied natural gas terminal on Alaska's Kenai Peninsula want the federal government to extend their export license by two years, without any conditions on that extens...

RCA wants TAPS tariff hearings in Alaska 08/29/2010
Regulatory Commission of Alaska says parties to case broke procedure by going to FERC first, and that the existing schedule puts RCA at a disadvantage
State regulators say they'll hold joint hearings with their federal counterparts to discuss shipping rates on the trans-Alaska oil pipeline, but only if the hearings are held in Alaska. The Regul...

Enstar: protection, not guarantees 08/29/2010
New gas supply contract with Conoco gives Enstar another place to turn when demand peaks, but only on a non-firm basis
A newly proposed gas supply contract between Enstar Natural Gas and ConocoPhillips would give the utility a fifth and sixth line of defense when extreme cold causes natural gas consumption to peak...

Harper waves Arctic flag; plans negotiations with Alaska to establish Beaufort boundary 08/29/2010
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper has just wrapped up his fifth annual summer swing through the Arctic, "vigorously defending" Canada's sovereignty claims in the region, pitching a new Arctic for...

Badami restart: Savant plans to bring six wells on line in BP-operated North Slope unit 08/29/2010
The off-again, on-again story of BP's troubled Badami oil field, the most easterly of the developed fields on Alaska's North Slope, continues with a planned field restart in September. For the past tw...

BLM to promote NPR-A 08/29/2010
Dougan: Agency's duty to encourage oil, gas development, predictability for industry
The U.S. Bureau of Land Management's upcoming integrated activity plan and associated environmental impact statement for the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, or NPR-A, will improve the level o...

Apache talks Cook Inlet 08/29/2010
New independent attracted to basin's oil potential, plans to acquire more acreage
Managers with Apache Corp. were in Anchorage the week of Aug. 22, and they were sounding pretty bullish about their new acreage in Southcentral Alaska's Cook Inlet basin. Apache's main interest is...

Exxon plans pipeline 08/29/2010
Twenty-two mile line would deliver Point Thomson liquids to Badami
ExxonMobil is moving forward with it plans for the Point Thomson project, applying for a right-of-way lease for construction of a pipeline to carry liquids production from the remote field on Alaska's...

AEA board OKs Haida Energy hydro loan 08/22/2010
The Alaska Energy Authority board of directors has approved a $9 million power project fund loan to Haida Energy Inc. to help finance a new 5 megawatt hydroelectric project at Reynolds Creek on Prince...

Industry reminded to report BOPE use 08/22/2010
The Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission put out an industry guidance bulletin Aug. 9, reminding industry to report all use of blowout prevention equipment to prevent the flow of fluids from a w...