THE EXPLORERS 2007: Anadarko to drill first ANS gas well 11/18/2007
Has two rigs under contract, drilling 2 Brooks Range gas prospects, going back to finish Jacob's Ladder
Anadarko Petroleum and its partners in the Brooks Range Foothills, BG Alaska and Petro-Canada, plan to drill the first two natural gas exploration wells in northern Alaska this winter. Gas discoveries...

Administration releases ACES draft 10/07/2007
Revenue Commissioner Galvin says no unexpected difficulties encountered - bill reflects principles governor outlined in September
Information and auditors, along with an increased tax rate, are key aspects of the draft bill for a new production tax - "Alaska's clear and equitable share" or ACES - introduced by the administration...

Palin to chair oil commission 09/30/2007
Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has been named to chair the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission for 2007-08. The commission said Palin is the only chairman in its history to have served as a past offic...

Mark Myers on USGS, scientific challenges 09/23/2007
U.S. Geological Survey Director Mark Myers, an AAPG member who was nominated by President Bush and confirmed by the Senate in 2006, heads up an entity that has more than 10,000 scientists, technicians...

Oil taxes revisited 09/09/2007
Hybrid net-gross tax would raise more than PPT actual, less than PPT proposed
Gov. Sarah Palin wants the Alaska Legislature to change the state's oil tax system from a tax on oil company profits - a net tax - to a hybrid tax, part net and part gross. The goal is to increase rev...

FERC praises Palin's progress on gas line 08/19/2007
Fourth report from federal regulatory agency on Alaska natural gas pipeline progress cites state, federal advancements
Both the State of Alaska and the federal government have made progress toward an Alaska natural gas pipeline project, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission told Congress Aug. 15 in its fourth semi-...

Oil Patch Insider 08/19/2007
Renaissance plans to bring jack-up to Cook Inlet next summer
A Cook Inlet independent hopes to bring a jack-up to Cook Inlet next summer. In an Aug. 14 interview with Petroleum News, Renaissance Alaska LLC executive Mark Landt said his company has bids from two...

Oil Patch Insider 08/05/2007
Oil sands grind down doubter BP; Alaska exploration buzz baseless, says BP; Palin calls PPT special session
BP likes spreading the message that its initials stand for Beyond Petroleum. How about Behind our Peers? Well, that was the case until this year when the global supermajor decided to clamber aboard th...

FERC can't force expansion 08/05/2007
Court upholds rules regulating Alaska gas line, while quieting owners' fears
A federal appeals court rejected an effort July 27 by three major gas owners in Alaska to overturn two rules governing access to a potential multibillion-dollar pipeline that would transport natural g...

AGIA race begins 07/08/2007
Applications due Oct. 1; process includes opportunity for anonymous QandA
The race is on - but how large the field is and who the runners are won't be known until sometime in October, when applications under the Alaska Gasline Inducement Act are made public. AGIA is Gov. S...

Palin freezes energy lobbying, ad contract 06/03/2007
Questions about how Pac/West Communications spent funds raised; no-bid $3M award an issue for some from the beginning
Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has frozen the contract of a firm originally hired with a no-bid contract to push for opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to petroleum drilling. Palin at first supporte...

MMS Alaska sales to go farther out 05/20/2007
Sales planned for 2007-12 could help keep trans-Alaska oil pipeline flowing; development in Arctic OCS will take 10-20 years
North Slope production is declining and the trans-Alaska oil pipeline is running at less than half the volume it carried in the 1980s. Resources from offshore Alaska could help keep flow rates up in t...

Oil Patch Insider 05/20/2007
The Buckee view of global oil; IOGCC selects Palin
World oil production has peaked, putting an end to the era of cheap energy, says Talisman Energy Chief Executive Officer Jim Buckee, who holds a doctorate in astrophysics from Oxford University. Give...

Public corruption scandal erupts in Alaska 05/13/2007
Former, current state legislators arrested and Veco's Allen confesses in federal probe; PPT and oil field contractor under cloud
In the latest chapter of a political scandal that began unfolding last summer, three Alaska politicians and two oil industry executives are facing federal criminal charges that could earn them stiff f...

Supreme Court upholds change in Rule 82 04/29/2007
Alaska's highest court sides with state Legislature in lawmakers' quest to close costly loophole in public interest litigation
The Alaska Supreme Court has upheld an attempt by the Alaska Legislature to fix a growing problem with public interest litigation in the state with an amendment to the Alaska Constitution. In State of...

Palin signs PSIO administrative order 04/29/2007
Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin signed an administrative order April 18 creating the Petroleum Systems Integrity Office and repealing the administrative order signed by former Gov. Frank Murkowski in October...

Senate deletes effort to take over NPDES 04/15/2007
The Senate version of the state operating budget eliminates funding that would allow Alaska to take over federal control of wastewater discharge permitting in the state. The money is intended to pay f...

Exxon gets cold shoulder 04/08/2007
Point Thomson operator's drilling plan for defunct leases, unit ignored by DNR
On March 23, ExxonMobil filed a "plan of operations" for the eastern North Slope "Point Thomson area" with the Alaska Department of Natural Resources' Division of Oil and Gas. Unlike previous Point...

MINING NEWS: Water use bill goes back to drawing board 03/25/2007
Some residents of Bristol Bay area say they desperately need economic development, including Pebble mine; others afraid for fisheries
A bill in the Alaska Legislature that would place severe restrictions on water use in the Bristol Bay area is undergoing revision by its sponsor, Rep. Bryce Edgmon, D-Dillingham. House Bill 134, wa...

Irwin back at DNR 02/18/2007
Governor brings back former commissioner; Marty Rutherford to focus on gas
If more proof were needed that Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is headed in a different direction on North Slope gas pipeline negotiations than that of the previous administration, Palin's appointment of Tom...

ANGDA goes local 02/04/2007
Alaska Gas Market System looks at 1.25 bcf line to Southcentral, Valdez
Hung out to dry during the Murkowski administration - which focused exclusively on a project by the major Prudhoe Bay owners to take Alaska North Slope gas to the Lower 48 - the Alaska Natural Gas Dev...

MEET ALASKA 2007: Don't sweat the small stuff 01/21/2007
Boyd urges Gov. Palin to focus on gas line, inter-agency conflicts and issues critical to Alaska's future
Petroleum News: What advice do you have for Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin regarding oil and gas matters? Ken Boyd: I think you can't really expect more giant oil fields on state land. Just offsetting the d...

MEET ALASKA 2007: Meet Alaska 2007 speakers 01/21/2007
Richard F. Guerrant Richard F. Guerrant, vice president-Americas for ExxonMobil Gas and Power Marketing Co., is located in Houston, Texas, and is responsible for the marketing of ExxonMobil's natural g...

Two gas pipeline entities will work together 01/21/2007
Alaska Gasline Port Authority, Alaska Natural Gas Development Authority, sign MOU; governor pleased with cooperation
The Alaska Gasline Port Authority and the Alaska Natural Gas Development Authority have signed a formal agreement to work cooperatively on developing a natural gas pipeline. Officials with the two vot...