Shale gas: Mirage or miracle? 11/29/2009
Euphoria over NA shale runs gauntlet of doubt; consultant - forecasts excessive
It's a roll of the dice with few parallels in the lifetime of North America's petroleum industry. In British Columbia alone, companies have plunked down billions of dollars to lock up exploration righ...

Oil Patch Bits: Peak expands Cook Inlet division operations 11/08/2009
On Oct. 23 Cook Inlet Region Inc.'s Web site carried an article reporting on Peak Oilfield Service Co.'s Cook Inlet division expanding its operations in CIRI's home region. With improved infrastructur...

Wanted: Operator for Cook Inlet fields 10/11/2009
The State of Alaska is looking for a contractor to come up with a longer-term solution for the Cook Inlet basin assets abandoned in bankruptcy proceedings by operator Pacific Energy Resources. Among t...

Railbelt crossroads 10/11/2009
Gas-dependent SC Alaska tries to determine how to meet energy needs
As the Municipality of Anchorage prepares for the possibility of natural gas shortages during the cold of the coming winter, shortages that would cause the electric utilities to activate contingency p...

State hires contractors to secure wells 10/04/2009
Pacific Energy's abandoned assets need 'winterizing' to stave off problems, preserve value; cost could range up to $200,000
Alaska officials have hired two oilfield contractors to "winterize" Cook Inlet wells a California oil and gas producer recently abandoned as part of a liquidation plan in U.S. Bankruptcy Court. Alan D...

AK-WA Connection 2009: Top law firm opens Anchorage office 08/23/2009
Stoel Rives is enhancing its services in Alaska by bringing some of its best natural resources, environmental lawyers to the state
Stoel Rives LLP, one of the nation's leading business law firms providing corporate and litigation services, recently opened an office in Anchorage. The Seattle-based firm has nearly 400 attorneys wi...

Oil will hit $150 again 08/23/2009
Herrera, Simmons: The question is when, not if, but too many variables in play to predict
Hoping for higher oil prices? Be careful what you wish for. Longtime oil industry observer Roger Herrera is convinced that high oil prices, though often omitted in current economic and political deba...

Oil sands jolted awake 03/29/2009
Suncor, Petro-Canada merger all about oil sands; stalled projects could restart
For all the talk about a fresh-minted, globally diversified, supermajor based in Canada, the real thrust behind the merger of Suncor Energy and Petro-Canada kept breaking the surface in conference cal...

Arctic Directory: Peak, Nabors to rally for CF 01/25/2009
On August 23 Peak Oilfield Services and Nabors Alaska will be defending their title in the annual Lost Lake Breath of Life Run for Cystic Fibrosis. Since its inception 15 years ago the race has raised...

Arctic Directory: Nabors names new leader 01/25/2009
Nabors Industries, the world's largest land drilling contractor, has named Dennis Smith, 58, to oversee its Alaska operations. The company's Alaska operations include Nabors Alaska Drilling, the larg...

Arctic Directory: Peak Civil Technologies, with two years under its belt, exceeds growth projections 01/25/2009
With high operating costs and tight timelines for meeting remote location infrastructure challenges, PCT proves failure is not an option
Peak Civil Technologies (PCT) is a division of Peak Oilfield Service Company specializing in designing and implementing solutions to unique infrastructure challenges of remote site development. Q. Wh...

Mining News: By the numbers: The figures don't add up 12/28/2008
Growing demand from the world's 6.7 billion people for mineral commodities renders Americans' antipathy toward mining 'irrational'
I've been thinking a lot about numbers lately, maybe because it is the end of the year, and therefore a time for reflection. But when I read about hundreds of billions of dollars committed to re-energ...

OSHA safety pact with Alaska companies 11/09/2008
The U.S. Department of Labor Occupational Safety and Health Administration has formed a new alliance with some companies in the Alaska oil and gas industry to promote work-related safety and health. U...

Alliance elects directors at annual meeting 09/21/2008
The Alaska Support Industry Alliance saw some new and returning directors elected at its annual meeting Sept. 11. Kevin Dorling of Petroleum Equipment and Services is new to the Alliance board, while...

Oil Patch Bits: Nabors names new leader 08/24/2008
Nabors Industries, the world's largest land drilling contractor, has named Dennis Smith, 58, to oversee its Alaska operations. This includes Nabors Alaska Drilling, the largest drilling contractor in...

Peak, Nabors host cystic fibrosis run 08/17/2008
On August 23 Peak Oilfield Services and Nabors Alaska Drilling will be defending their title in the annual Lost Lake Breath of Life Run for Cystic Fibrosis, which the companies are sponsoring. Since i...

A sea change in North America 06/29/2008
Shale revives dreams of energy self-sufficiency extending over hundreds of years, driven by technological gains, oil prices
Whimsical or not, more commentators are suggesting that North America is on the verge of pushing back the "peak oil" threshold by hundreds of years. That was reminiscent of the loose talk in the 1960s...

Saudi Arabia drops bombshell 04/27/2008
Reversal of pledges to expand daily oil production beyond 12.5 million barrels has far reaching world oil supply implications
On April 20, Reuters reported that Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest oil producer and exporter, had put its plans to increase long-term oil production on hold. In a series of statements top Saudi off...

PETROLEUM DIRECTORY: Tyonek platform, Peak's Nikiski field office earn OSHA star 02/10/2008
The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration has recognized ConocoPhillips' Tyonek platform in Kenai, Alaska, and Peak Oilfield Service Co.'s Tyonek Oil Platform Operat...

PETROLEUM DIRECTORY: Peak, its subsidiaries assure smooth client operations year after year 02/10/2008
Top-notch Alaska company makes a safe, healthy environment for its diverse workforce an absolute priority
Q. When was Peak founded, who founded it, and what was its original name? A. Peak was formed in December 1987 when Kodiak Oilfield Haulers, an organization that had specialized in rig moves, rig supp...

Tyonek platform scores 01/20/2008
In late 2007, the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration, or OSHA, recognized ConocoPhillips' Tyonek platform in Cook Inlet for excellence in employee safety and heal...

High oil prices? You ain't seen nothing yet 01/13/2008
If you think $100 per barrel oil is costly, consider $180 per barrel oil. The former is here, while the latter may be in our not-too-distant future, according to two well-known oil industry analysts. ...

30 STRONG: A vanishing footprint 10/14/2007
Use of ice-based infrastructure minimizes impact of winter exploration activity
Ice roads, winter byways that disappear with breakup in spring, are efficient and indispensable aids to oil and gas exploration on the North Slope. These ribbons of frozen water have paved the way for...

30 STRONG: Airtight seal skins inspire rolligons 10/14/2007
Traditional Alaska Native knowledge yields secret of technology to California inventor
To explore for and develop petroleum resources on Alaska's North Slope, engineers had to build an infrastructure that would disrupt the region's permafrost as little as possible. Part of the answer f...

30 STRONG: With DRA pipeline less of a drag 10/14/2007
Chemical additive enables Alyeska Pipeline Service Co. to achieve huge cost savings
Over three decades, Alyeska Pipeline Service Co. has operated the trans-Alaska oil pipeline with the assistance of numerous technologies. None, perhaps, is better known than a clever innovation cooked...