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...

Maple Leafs: Environmental plea rejected 06/21/2009
Alberta's Energy Resources Conservation Board and the Canadian government have turned down demands from an environmental coalition to reopen their approval of a C$13.7 billion expansion of a Royal Dut...

Shell pushes drilling out to 2010, '11 12/28/2008
Seismic cancellation unrelated to 9th Circuit ruling; company hopes to drill in Beaufort and Chukchi if it prevails in court; 3-D program cancelled - enough data has been acquired
As reported in the Dec. 21 issue of Petroleum News, Shell Oil plans to ask for a rehearing from the full 9th Circuit Court of Appeals on a Nov. 20 ruling issued by a three-judge panel. Shell's announc...

Recent blowout one of only 18 in state 12/14/2008
Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission says uncontrolled flows of gas, oil rare in Alaska - 10 on slope, eight in Cook Inlet
After Aurora Gas had a blowout while drilling its Moquawkie No. 4 gas well in late September, Petroleum News checked with the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission to find out how common blowouts...

AK-WA Connection 2008: Adaptability serves Arctic carrier well 11/30/2008
Bowhead Transport Company specializes in remote site service and common carriage to coastal villages of the North Slope Borough
Bowhead Transport Company puts the resourcefulness and adaptability of its Iņupiat heritage into motion. Lots of motion. The Bowhead group of companies is named for the Bowhead baleen whales that spen...

The Explorers 2008: Shell still positive on Alaska 11/23/2008
Massive lease purchase in the Chukchi supplements Beaufort holdings; drilling remains on hold
Commitment to an exploration strategy doesn't come much stronger than the $2.1 billion payment that Shell sent to the U.S. Minerals Management Service for oil and gas leases that the company bought in...

Palin book offers facts, not insights 11/23/2008
Anyone who thinks that the proposed natural gas pipeline, planned to carry Alaska North Slope gas to the Midwestern United States, is an important factor in our energy picture, must read the book "Sar...

Shell seeks drilling OK 11/09/2008
Company asks 9th Circuit court to lift injunction for '09 Beaufort exploration
In a motion filed with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit on Oct. 30, Shell Offshore Inc. has asked the court to lift the temporary injunction against the company's planned Beaufort Sea exp...

Alaska at the front 11/02/2008
Shell's Odum says the state is central to future U.S. energy supplies
Alaska is central to the question of where the United States will obtain its future energy resources. And that's critical to the issues of energy security and the need for major new resource developme...

MMS, operators take stock after Ike 09/21/2008
Hurricane destroys at least 28 platforms in Gulf of Mexico, others severely damaged; more reports of devastation expected
Reported damage to Gulf of Mexico oil and gas facilities is mounting in the wake of Hurricane Ike, while government authorities try to figure out how long before the region's production can be restore...

Storm danger looms in Gulf 08/31/2008
Platforms, drilling rigs evacuated as Gustav bears down; 80% of Gulf production could be shut down
Companies began evacuating workers and shutting down oil and gas production platforms and drilling rigs ahead of Gustav, which was expected to strengthen from a tropical storm into a full-blown hurric...

Petroleum Directory: Attention to operational techniques, productivity and safety pays off for Offshore Divers 07/20/2008
There's no waiting for a warm, sunny day in the oilfield commercial diving business
The principals of Offshore Divers worked in the North Sea, Gulf of Mexico, Egypt, New Zealand, South America and many other oilfield areas before starting the company. With that experience they brough...

Bush calls for more U.S. production 05/04/2008
President sees American oil and gas, including ANWR, as a way to meet growing demand and cure increasing prices at the pump
A run of record oil and gasoline prices prompted President George Bush to renew calls for domestic drilling, especially in the 1002 area of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, during a press conferen...

Oil Patch Insider 04/20/2008
Indigenous Russian leaders take lessons from Alaska Natives; Ahmaogak sees stint with Shell as beneficial
Shell President John Hofmeister wasn't the only visitor to Alaska's North Slope Borough in the last month. Pacific Environment, an environmental organization based in San Francisco, brought a delegati...

Hofmeister: U.S. must open federal lands, allow Americans access to new oil, gas 04/13/2008
In the course of answering questions from reporters during an April 8 teleconference, John Hofmeister, president of Shell Oil Co., linked high fuel costs in Alaska and elsewhere to the withdrawal of f...

Continuing the dialogue 04/13/2008
Shell's Hofmeister talks about his visit to Alaska North Slope communities
When John Hofmeister, president of Shell Oil Co., spoke at the Alaska's Energy Challenge summit meeting in February, he was about to set out on a visit to communities on Alaska's North Slope. Hofmeist...

Congress presses oil chiefs on profits 04/06/2008
Don't blame us, oil industry chiefs told a skeptical Congress. Top executives of the country's five biggest oil companies said April 1 they know record fuel prices are hurting people, but they argued...

Benefits and risks 03/30/2008
Oil and gas development could reinvigorate Alaska's Bristol Bay region
It's been 20 years since the last oil and gas lease sale in the U.S. Minerals Management Service North Aleutian planning area in the southeastern Bering Sea on the north side of the Alaska Peninsula....

Odum to replace Hofmeister at Shell 03/23/2008
John Hofmeister, who guided Shell Oil Co. through the aftermath of hurricanes Katrina and Rita only months after becoming president in 2005, will retire June 1, the company said March 17. Hofmeister,...

Overview: North Aleutian basin workshop 03/23/2008
Oil, gas development questions aired at March 18-19 energy-fisheries meeting in advance of proposed MMS oil and gas lease sale
The North Aleutian basin energy-fisheries workshop held in Anchorage March 18 to 19 brought together a wide assortment of people from different backgrounds to review and discuss issues relating to pos...

Eroding Alaska town sues oil companies 03/02/2008
A tiny Alaska village eroding into the Chukchi Sea sued two dozen oil, power and coal companies, claiming that the large amounts of greenhouse gases they emit contribute to global warming that threate...

In for the long haul 02/24/2008
John Hofmeister presents the big picture of Shell's strategy in Alaska
Audible gasps are still circulating around the oil industry in response to the magnitude of Shell's bidding in the Feb. 6 Chukchi Sea lease sale. "Internally we use words like 'well thought-through' t...

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...

THE EXPLORERS 2007: XTO more than doubles oil reserves 11/18/2007
XTO Energy, operator of the Middle Ground Shoal field in Alaska's Cook Inlet basin, is a good example of what an independent oil company can achieve in prolonging the life of an aging oil field. Midd...

Court nixes drilling 08/19/2007
9th Circuit order kills Beaufort drilling this year, Shell reviewing options
Shell has crossed several major hurdles in its attempt to start an exploration drilling program in the Beaufort Sea during the 2007 open water season. But the latest obstacle, an Aug. 15 court order f...