Olgoonik, UIC to support Shell operations 01/10/2010
Shell is partnering with Olgoonik Corp., the Native village corporation for the Chukchi Sea coast village of Wainwright, and Ukpeaegvik Inupiat Corp., the Native village corporation for Barrow, to ope...

Time to take a stand on climate change? 01/10/2010
Alaska legislators want information to determine a strategy on responding to climate change actions and the use of the ESA in AK
The stakes are high and the rhetoric climbing in the debate between those who want to apply the Endangered Species Act for the protection of wildlife potentially threatened by a warming climate, and t...

Canada issues Mackenzie-Beaufort nominations call 01/10/2010
Whether Canada's frontier explorers see the initial round of regulatory backing for the Mackenzie Gas Project as a shot in the arm for eventual development of Arctic oil and natural gas is being put t...

Ho-ho-hold the holidays 01/10/2010
Proponents of Mackenzie gas have tight deadline to respond to 679-page report
It landed Dec. 30 with a thud on desks in the high-rise petroleum towers of downtown Calgary, spoiling whatever hopes employees working on the Mackenzie Gas Project might have had to put their feet up...

Exxon's legal extra 01/10/2010
Just ahead of Point Thomson ruling, firm touts drilling progress; state objects
With a judge on the brink of issuing a key ruling in the battle for control of the rich Point Thomson oil and gas field, ExxonMobil has filed a last-minute statement from its Alaska chief in hopes of...

Swenson named in-state gas line manager 01/03/2010
Alaska Gov. Sean Parnell has named Bob Swenson of Fairbanks to replace Harry Noah as the state's in-state gas line project manager. Noah announced his resignation earlier this year, citing the demands...

Shell goes for reduced OCS footprint 01/03/2010
Macrander says using advanced technologies to minimize environmental impacts makes business sense and protects the Arctic offshore
The use of advanced technologies that reduce environmental impacts and improve business efficiency distinguishes Shell in the oil and gas industry, Michael Macrander, Shell's Alaska lead scientist, to...

BP plans new operations center for Northstar 01/03/2010
Project involves fabricating, hauling enormous module by barge to production island in Alaska's Beaufort Sea; cost not specified
BP is applying for state and federal clearance to place a huge new module on its Northstar production island in Alaska's Beaufort Sea. The module would house a new operations center with living quarte...

Imperial's plans put at risk 01/03/2010
NEB won't issue advance ruling on same season relief well in Beaufort
Turned down by Canada's federal energy regulator in its efforts to gain an advance ruling on its plans for an exploration well in the Canadian section of the Beaufort Sea, Imperial Oil is now taking t...

State Beaufort Sea sale set for Feb. 24 12/27/2009
The Alaska Division of Oil and Gas said Dec. 20 that it will hold a Beaufort Sea areawide oil and gas lease sale Feb. 24. Bid opening will begin at 9 a.m. in Suite 240 at the Atwood Building, 550 W. 7...

State intervenes in Beaufort Sea litigation 12/27/2009
The State of Alaska has filed a motion to intervene in an appeal in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit by the Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission and the Inupiat Community of the Arctic Slope...

NSB not part of suits against MMS 12/20/2009
The North Slope Borough said Dec. 15 that it has opted to continue to work with Shell and agencies on the company's Beaufort Sea exploration plan, and will not join lawsuits filed in the wake of feder...

Groups sue to stop Beaufort Sea drilling 12/20/2009
A group that helps manage Eskimo whaling in Alaska has sued to halt petroleum drilling proposed next year in the Beaufort Sea by a subsidiary of Shell Oil. The Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission and the...

Savant ahead of schedule 12/20/2009
Vigil: ACES works for small explorers, producers; hires lobbyist to make sure Alaska legislators aware of independent's position
Savant Alaska is ahead of schedule on the construction of its ice road to the eastern North Slope's Badami unit, where the company plans to finish an oil exploration well it began last winter. The wel...

Arctic future at risk; Imperial wants NEB to expedite ruling 12/13/2009
Imperial Oil and its sister company ExxonMobil Canada can't buy a break from Canadian regulators as they mull their future plans for the Arctic. And Imperial has vented its frustrations in a letter to...

Arctic sea ice all but gone 12/06/2009
A leading Canadian ice scientist has challenged studies claiming Arctic sea ice is making a modest comeback from an unprecedented retreat in 2007. David Barber, research chair in Arctic System Science...

Court rejects lawsuit over polar bears 12/06/2009
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Dec. 2 ruled against an environmental group that had sued the federal government for allowing oil industry activities to occur in areas that polar bears also u...

DOI still reworking lease sale assessment 12/06/2009
The U.S. Department of the Interior is still reworking its environmental analysis for its 2007-12 program of oil and gas lease sales on the outer continental shelf of the Beaufort Sea, the Chukchi Sea...

Logistics key to Point Thomson project 12/06/2009
Last year's ice road only available to move materials for four weeks; barges used in summer; rolligons moved significant amounts
ExxonMobil has been fighting a running battle with the State of Alaska over development of its North Slope Point Thomson field - but it has also been waging a logistics battle to get equipment and sup...

Beaufort dispute boiling over 12/06/2009
The Canadian government has filed a formal protest with Washington over Alaska's plans to auction exploration rights in a disputed portion of the Beaufort Sea and is being urged to raise the issue at...

Wood Mac: EandP spend to recover in 2011, flat in 2010; Conoco's Alaska budget uncertain 12/06/2009
Wood Mackenzie predicts investment in the world's upstream oil and gas sector will grow modestly in 2011, reaching around $350 billion by 2012, down from a five-year peak of $370 billion in 2008 when...

Melt could cost trillions 12/06/2009
Pipelines, roads, buildings threatened by extreme temperature swings in Arctic
A meltdown in northern Canada is endangering pipelines, roads and buildings - including C$5 trillion worth of aging infrastructure - if climate change continues unabated in the decades ahead, says a r...

Projecting the jobs 11/29/2009
AEDC CEO Bill Popp works with Petroleum News and Mining News on new project forecast
Like one of Scrooge's Christmas apparitions, a ghost of Alaska's future could portend doom, or could just prove to be a warning of the consequences of not taking appropriate action. And from the persp...

Cooperation the key 11/29/2009
Mayor Itta spells out North Slope Borough expectations for OCS policy
As summer sea ice recedes and marine habitats change under the influence of a warming climate, the rapidly evolving situation in the Arctic is creating a situation where a wide variety of different gr...

Oooguruk field continues to perform well 11/22/2009
Pioneer Natural Resources' Oooguruk field in state Beaufort Sea waters, offshore Alaska's North Slope, continues to perform well, said Timothy Dove, the company's president and chief operating officer...