Not so fast 11/30/2008
Edward Itta, mayor of the North Slope Borough, told the Resource Development Council's annual conference on Nov. 19 that he was always glad to share discussions about the challenges of offshore develo...

No to drilling 11/30/2008
9th Circuit Court says that MMS assessment of Shell's plan was inadequate
Nearly a year after it heard oral arguments in the appeals against the U.S. Minerals Management Service approval of Shell's Beaufort Sea exploration plan, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit...

Arlen Ehm resigns from Fowler over pay 02/10/2008
Veteran petroleum geologist Arlen Ehm, declaring he wasn't paid in full for his services, has resigned from Nevada-based Fowler Oil and Gas Corp., the company that has been working on the Kircher unit...

Fowler seeks CBM waivers 01/20/2008
Asks for 9 exemptions, says regulations not designed for coalbed methane
An Alaska company looking to revive a coalbed methane project near Palmer is asking the state for a handful of waivers to the Alaska Administrative Code before it can start drilling this spring. Fowle...

THE EXPLORERS 2007: Mat-Su CBM gets second chance 11/18/2007
Fowler Oil and Gas gets unanimous approval from Matanuska-Susitna Borough to drill coalbed methane well; first okayed under tough new ordinance
When Fowler Oil and Gas Corp. first came on the scene in May 2007, it had been four years since an attempt to develop coalbed methane resources in Alaska's Matanuska-Susitna Borough collapsed amid an ac...

Fowler Oil and Gas gets green light from Mat-Su borough to drill coalbed methane well 10/07/2007
On Oct. 1 the Matanuska-Susitna Borough Planning Commission unanimously approved a conditional use permit for Fowler Oil and Gas (Alaska) to drill a coalbed methane well between Palmer and Wasilla in...

Oil Patch Insider 04/15/2007
Agrium takes first gas; Savant hires O'Keefe, looking for more exploration plays; Zimmerman resigns from Storm Cat
Agrium's Alaska spokeswoman Lisa Parker told Petroleum News April 11 that the company's Nikiski fertilizer facility received its first natural gas feedstock April 10 and will be back in production in...

Perception usurps ethics 11/05/2006
Ogan: Doing the right thing is hard when opponents paint you as villain anyway
If you think doing the right thing can't hurt, think again if you are a member of the Alaska Legislature. The question of ethical conduct in the political arena has taken center stage this election ye...

Storm Cat expects to drill early 2006 12/04/2005
Storm Cat Energy Corp. has announced that it now expects to drill its first well in Alaska's Matanuska-Susitna Borough, north of Anchorage, early in 2006. According to company President Scott Zimmerma...

THE EXPLORERS 2005: Storm Cat looks for gas in Cook Inlet 11/31/2005
The company has bought acreage in the Susitna Valley in Mental Health Trust and state lease sales
Canadian company Storm Cat Energy Corp. signaled its intention to explore for gas in Alaska in November 2004 when it purchased two leases in the Alaska Mental Health Trust Land Office lease sale. The...

New inlet players outline strategies 06/12/2005
Storm Cat and Alaska Energy Alliance talk about their plans for leases won in the May Cook Inlet lease sale
Storm Cat Energy Corporation and Alaska Energy Alliance Inc. adopted distinctly different strategies in buying leases at the state of Alaska's Cook Inlet areawide sale in May. Both companies are new t...

Alaska pulls in $1.9M at Foothills, Cook Inlet areawide lease sales 05/22/2005
The state of Alaska opened bids for two areawide lease sales in Anchorage May 18, garnering almost $404,000 for 12 Foothills area leases, 11 of them bids from Anadarko Petroleum, and $1.5 million for...

EXPLORERS USA 2005: Mergers and acquisitions activity surges 05/08/2005
EandP independents ride MandA market on strong commodity prices, desire to build production on shrinking U.S oil and gas reserves
Merger and acquisition activity in the United States, supported by exceptionally strong commodity prices, increased dramatically over the past year and a half, particularly among exploration and produ...

Pioneer Natural Resources drops Mat-Su 04/24/2005
Company relinquishes Pioneer unit, all state and private fee leases in Matanuska-Susitna Borough in Southcentral Alaska
Several companies have worked at developing coalbed methane production in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough northeast of Anchorage. Evergreen Resources, a major Lower 48 coalbed methane producer, most rec...

U.S. branch plants target coalbed methane in Canada 02/20/2005
The exodus of U.S.-based companies from Western Canada's conventional oil and gas plays has been partly offset by a burst of U.S. activity in Alberta's coalbed methane fields. In addition, to MGV Ener...

Pioneer overcomes problems to set production record 02/13/2005
Unveils plans for aggressive 2005 exploration, drilling 20 high-profile wells
Pioneer Natural Resources has fixed the operational problems that plagued the company in the Gulf of Mexico during the latter half of 2004, including an unplanned shutdown of the Canyon Express gas pi...

Pioneer to spend $900M-plus on capital projects in 2005 01/16/2005
Independent plans more development and exploration wells this year, some 800, up from last year, with some 300 wells planned for Raton basin
Big exploration and production independent Pioneer Natural Resources says it plans to spend between $900 million and $950 million on capital projects worldwide in 2005, with about 5 percent or roughly...

MINING NEWS: Haze surrounds Alaska-Taiwan coal talks 12/26/2004
State investigation looks at Alaska attorney general's role in promoting KFx 's experimental coal-drying technology
The state of Alaska's attempts to export coal to Taiwan have become bogged down in a political scandal, with a prosecutor investigating Attorney General Gregg Renkes' role in the negotiations. The Anc...

State denies Trustees request on Bristol Bay exploration license 12/26/2004
The state of Alaska has denied a reconsideration request from Trustees for Alaska regarding its best interest finding for Bristol Bay basin exploration license No. 1. Although disappointed in the stat...

Storm Cat to drill in Mongolia 12/19/2004
Canada's Storm Cat Energy Corp. has a deal to drill at least three coalbed methane wells near Mongolia's capital, the Calgary-based company said Dec. 14, and may be doing some other exploration work a...

Storm Cat sees coalbed methane promise in Cook Inlet area 12/05/2004
Calgary-based Storm Cat Energy Corp. commented Nov. 18 on the leases it took in the Alaska Mental Health Trust Land Office lease sale Nov. 9. (See previous two stories on Storm Cat and the lease sale...

THE EXPLORERS 2004: Eradicating poverty with natural gas 11/30/2004
Bristol Bay residents ask state of Alaska to open poverty-stricken region to exploration and development
In 2003, the people living in the Bristol Bay region of Southwestern Alaska asked Alaska Gov. Frank Murkowski to open their area to oil and gas leasing. Their goal was to eradicate the poverty brought...

THE EXPLORERS 2004: Pioneer building an Alaska drilling portfolio 11/30/2004
Dallas independent opens permanent Alaska office, has concerns about cost of doing business on North Slope
Ken Sheffield has repeatedly said Alaska is one of four key exploration hot spots for Pioneer Natural Resources. Sheffield, based in Anchorage and president of Pioneer Natural Resource's Alaska subsid...

THE EXPLORERS 2004: Pioneer to explore for gas in Alaska 11/30/2004
A May 2004 state lease sale for the Cook Inlet basin drew a new player to Alaska, Pioneer Oil Co. of Lawrenceville, Ill., an independent that operates more than 800 wells in the United States The fami...

Sexton steps down from KFx, forms new company, Evergreen Energy 11/21/2004
Former Evergreen Resources chief executive Mark S. Sexton is stepping down from his position on the board of directors of KFx to pursue other interests through his new company, Evergreen Energy Co. O...