Alaska approves spill plan for BP tankers 01/10/2010
Prevention and response outline covers backup tankers chartered to haul North Slope crude; state officials can't promise it'll work
Alaska officials have approved an oil spill prevention and response plan for extra tankers BP might charter to help haul North Slope crude out of the port of Valdez. The approval from the Department o...

December production down from November 01/10/2010
Alaska North Slope production drops 1.6%, month to month; Endicott, Milne, Alpine, Prudhoe Bay all have reduced volumes
Alaska North Slope crude oil production dropped 1.56 percent in December, averaging 688,765 barrels per day compared to the November average of 699,675 bpd. ANS crude oil production peaked in 1988 at...

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...

Corps working on EIS for standalone line 01/03/2010
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is working on a draft environmental impact statement for the State of Alaska's proposed standalone in-state gas pipeline project. The corps is the lead federal agency;...

Noah tells legislators time to choose 01/03/2010
Says Legislature funding too many options, confusing market; Irwin says information isn't in for standalone or AGIA line to market
Alaska legislators heard two different views in mid-December of what they should do about gas projects in the state: Harry Noah, the outgoing project manager for the state's in-state gas project, said...

Prudhoe spill maybe 100 gallons of oil 01/03/2010
Using an assessment of the amount of liquid likely to have been in the well bore and its surface flow line at the time that the line ruptured in the Prudhoe Bay drill site six oil spill incident on De...

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...

Tugboat hits Bligh Reef 01/03/2010
Coast Guard probes collision with infamous rock; Alaska oil tankers delayed
A tugboat used to help manage oil tankers at Valdez ran aground two days before Christmas, spilling diesel fuel into Prince William Sound and mildly disrupting Alaska crude shipments. The mishap has g...

Oil Patch Bits: Alaska Frontier Constructors receives certificates 12/27/2009
Alaska Frontier Constructors Inc. said Dec. 15 that it, along with Nanuq Inc. of Anchorage and Prudhoe Bay have achieved an ISO 14001 Environmental Management System certificate, an AHSAS 18001 Health...

ANGDA resolves EIS project description 12/27/2009
Authority's board approves moving ahead with Beluga to Fairbanks gas line permitting work, exclusive agreement on propane project
The Alaska Natural Gas Development Authority, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Bureau of Land Management appear to have come to an agreement on a project description of ANGDA's Beluga-to-Fairb...

Pipe breaks, spilling oil at Prudhoe drill site 12/27/2009
At 10:30 a.m. on Dec. 21 a six-inch production line carrying oil, water and natural gas from a well head at drill site six in the Prudhoe Bay field broke apart, spraying out a mixture of oil and produ...

State, feds investigate spill at North Slope's Lisburne field 12/27/2009
Ruptured pipe in BP-operated field releases estimated 45,828 gallons of oil and water; criminal and civil probes under way by Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation, US EPA
State and federal authorities confirm they're conducting criminal and civil investigations into a pipeline rupture discovered in the BP-operated Lisburne oil field on Nov. 29. Weld Royal, spokeswoman...

Lawyers debate BP motion 12/27/2009
Company fights Alaska's billion-dollar suit over '06 Prudhoe Bay pipeline leaks
A lawyer for BP on Dec. 21 urged a judge to dismiss much of the State of Alaska's lawsuit against the company seeking $1 billion or more in damages for the 2006 pipeline spills in the Prudhoe Bay oil...

What chance now for North Slope LNG? 12/20/2009
World market is growing fast but North Slope gas would need to compete on cost with massive new supplies close to tidewater
Few subjects raise the temperature more in a room full of Alaskans on a cold winter night than the perennial debate about exporting North Slope gas in a pipeline through Canada versus exporting the ga...

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...

Noah: standalone line work on schedule 12/20/2009
Parks Highway route selected because it is shorter, could cost less; gas conditioning in Cook Inlet, at PBU facilities, considered
Harry Noah, special manager of the in-state gas pipeline project, told Alaska legislators Dec. 16 that the standalone or bullet line - a project which would deliver gas just within Alaska, not to outs...

Exploration credits holding steady 12/20/2009
Proposed FY 2011 budget has $180M for tax credits, funds in-state and out-of-state gas, variety of other resource-related projects
The $10.5 billion budget proposed by Alaska Gov. Sean Parnell on Dec. 14 continues to fund many resource development projects started under the Palin administration, and creates several new projects,...

Produced water spill at R pad 12/13/2009
In an incident unrelated to the oil spill from the Lisburne field pipeline, about 7,000 gallons of produced water were spilled from a 34-inch produced water flow line inside a manifold building on the...

Response team finds source of oil leak 12/13/2009
Overpressure from expanding ice plugs likely caused 24-inch rupture in pipeline between Lisburne drill pad and production center
In a situation analogous to the bursting of a frozen water pipe during the winter, it appears that pressure from expanding ice plugs inside the 18-inch pipeline that carries three-phase fluids from Li...

Speakers highlight oil's importance 12/13/2009
Goldsmith, Langland, Samuels urge more attention for oil industry if Alaska is to have vibrant economy, avoid state budget crisis as production declines in next few years
An economist, a banker and a politician sounded a familiar alarm Dec. 8 at a special luncheon of the Resource Development Council for Alaska: The state's vital oil production is running out, the indus...

Unintended consequences? 12/13/2009
Balash: Without exemption cap-and-trade scheme could sink NS gas line
Without some form of exemption for the planned gas treatment plant at the Prudhoe Bay end of a future gas pipeline from Alaska's North Slope, current climate change legislation working its way through...

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...

Response continues at Lisburne spill 12/06/2009
Quarter acre of frozen discharge remains while team waits for engineers to ensure that pressure has dropped in leaking pipeline
The spill response crew has removed about 80 cubic yards of oil-misted snow from a half-acre area around the site of a pipeline leak in the Lisburne field on Alaska's North Slope, and is waiting for t...

ANS November production up from October 12/06/2009
Alaska North Slope crude oil production for November averaged 699,675 barrels per day, up 2 percent from an October average of 686,126 bpd. ANS crude oil production peaked in 1988 at some 2 million bp...

TG World positive on NS exploration 12/06/2009
BRPC JV partner spells out some details of seismic and drilling program across the North Slope; sees value of exploration credits
As the only outfit engaged in exploration onshore or offshore northern Alaska this winter, Brooks Range Petroleum Corp., operator for a joint venture of small independents, looks like having a lonely...