Exxon wins a round 01/17/2010
For second time, judge disallows breakup of Alaska's Point Thomson unit
An Alaska judge on Jan. 11 dealt the state government a blow in its quest to wrest control of the rich Point Thomson oil and gas field from ExxonMobil and other leaseholders. Superior Court Judge Shar...

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...

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...

State reverses Holitna license decision 12/13/2009
Overturning a 2006 decision, DNR finds that a gas exploration license in Southwest Alaska is in the best interest of the state
Alaska officials have again decided that an exploration license in the Holitna basin is in the best interests of the state, returning in a 2005 ruling that had previously been overturned. In a decisi...

State of Alaska applies for FERC waiver 11/22/2009
Change would permit state to negotiate link between royalty gas and shipping capacity, easing royalty in-value to in-kind switches
State of Alaska oil and gas leases allow the state to take its royalty share - usually 12.5 percent - in-kind or in-value. Which means the producer can sell the oil or gas for the state and pay the st...

The Explorers 2009: Alaska's energy resources - a crucial part of the answer to the nation's energy questions 11/15/2009
We Alaskans have a very special relationship to our environment. The land is our back yard. We use it for recreation and subsistence. The land has provided our livelihood, for the people and for the s...

Beaufort leasing in state's 'best interest' 11/15/2009
Finding supports 10 years of planned sales in nearshore seas extending from Barrow to Canada; Native groups claim slight from state
Alaska oil industry regulators have cleared the way for a series of lease sales over the next decade along a vast swath of coastal waters in the Beaufort Sea. The state's oil and gas director, Kevin B...

Oil Patch Insider: TransCanada on Arctic gas; RDC conference Nov. 18-19; Buffett cash to build Alaska gas line? 11/15/2009
TransCanada, with a financial stake in the Mackenzie Gas Project and the prospect of operating the main gas pipeline to southern markets, but no ownership position, is ideally situated to tell it stra...

Legislators get biannual report on AGIA 11/08/2009
As required under the Alaska Gasline Inducement Act, legislators have received the second biannual report on the Alaska Pipeline Project licensed under the act. Alaska Commissioner of Revenue Pat Gal...

Gas prices, availability, now and then 09/27/2009
Alaska Oil and Gas Congress hears pessimistic, optimistic views on future for Arctic gas; told it can't be highest-priced commodity
Natural gas prices are low and supply is plentiful. What does that mean for a proposed Alaska gas pipeline which could begin shipping gas in 2018? The 5th Annual Alaska Oil and Gas Congress, held in An...

Exxon sews up production well starts 09/13/2009
Drilling kicks off $1.3 billion Point Thomson gas cycling project; key rulings expected in dispute between Alaska and companies
ExxonMobil announced Sept. 9 it has completed drilling and casing the surface section of the first production well in the company's billion-dollar project to produce hydrocarbon liquids from the Point...

Organizers cancel petrochem conference 08/30/2009
Anchorage event succumbs to tough economy, tight travel budgets among chemical company executives
Organizers of a planned late September conference on potential for an Alaska petrochemical industry using the state's abundant natural gas said the global recession forced them to cancel the event. Th...

State reaches $15.7M royalty oil settlement with Williams 06/28/2009
Alaska has reached a $15.7 million settlement with Williams Alaska Petroleum Inc. over payments for royalty oil purchased by Williams. "We are required by the constitution and by statute to sell roya...

Exxon joins line 06/14/2009
Partners with TransCanada in Alaska gas line; state says AGIA not affected
TransCanada has a partner in the Alaska gas pipeline project, announcing June 11 that it has reached an agreement with ExxonMobil to work together on the project. The State of Alaska reviewed the agr...

Oil Patch Insider 06/07/2009
When you're down, you're down...; war of words on gas line progress under Gov. Palin
Reeling from low commodity prices, the Canadian petroleum industry got some soothing words from Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach, author of his province's widely condemned royalty overhaul. Under the new r...

Thomson legal battle rages 06/07/2009
Palin sounds conciliatory note at Exxon lunch; hails project launch, local hiring
ExxonMobil has resumed drilling at Point Thomson after many years, and Gov. Sarah Palin actually had some words of praise in early June for a company she has jabbed from time to time. But these develo...

ExxonMobil spuds well at Point Thomson 05/17/2009
While this season's work under way, settlement needed with state says Exxon's Craig Haymes, so 2014 production won't be delayed
Actual drilling has begun at Point Thomson. "ExxonMobil informed my administration that, at 2:30 a.m. today, drilling operations began," Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin said in a May 8 statement. Craig Hayme...

ANGDA: Either/or versus and/until 05/10/2009
ANGDA wants the state to allow spur line and bullet line to both continue until economics prove up one project or the other
Recent work to bring North Slope gas to Alaska markets has focused on "either/or" decisions. The Alaska Natural Gas Development Authority wants those to be "and/until." The "either/or" questions cover...

Nabors rig in place at Point Thomson 04/26/2009
Nabors rig 27E has reached Point Thomson - and ExxonMobil has provided pictures illustrating that fact. The rig has been modified for drilling the high-pressure wells at the Point Thomson field on Al...

Governor: Rig on way to Point Thomson 04/19/2009
ExxonMobil required to drill below conductor casing this winter to retain two leases provisionally returned by DNR's Tom Irwin
Exxon is getting close to doing something it hasn't done in Alaska in more than 15 years - drill a well. The company, which last drilled at Thetis Island in the early 1990s, will be drilling at Point...

CIPC shuts in Drift River terminal 04/12/2009
Explosive event at Mount Redoubt triggers change in strategy and forces Chevron to shut in oil production at 10 offshore platforms; producers studying other ways to move oil
The unified command for the response to the threat to the Drift River Marine Terminal from the eruption of Redoubt Volcano breathed a collective sigh of relief at 1 p.m. April 6, following the success...

Administration provides update on AGIA 03/29/2009
Galvin says Alaska gas viewed as game changer for shale gas, not vice versa; TransCanada holding off FERC because of cost concerns
Have economic and market conditions changed since the Alaska Gasline Inducement Act was passed in 2007 and the Legislature approved granting an AGIA license to TransCanada in 2008? That was the conce...

Land transfer appeal upheld by court 03/22/2009
On March 13 the Alaska Supreme Court upheld an appeal against the transfer of 250,000 acres of state land to the University of Alaska's endowment trust. The Southeast Alaska Conservation Council and t...

AGIA on the table again? 03/22/2009
House Republicans want to revisit license decision; Palin wants to stay course
Republican legislators in the Alaska House are concerned about current gas supply and price issues as they affect gas pipeline economics and want to be sure the TransCanada Alaska pipeline proposal th...

ExxonMobil relinquishes expansion leases 03/01/2009
Palin notes ongoing progress in DNR's move to resolve legal issues at Point Thomson; Exxon says a positive step toward settlement
Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin said Feb. 19 that ExxonMobil has surrendered eight leases in the Point Thomson area, some 17 percent of the leases in the former unit area. The governor cited the surrender of...