BP seeks approval for new cost method 01/17/2010
Trans-Alaska oil pipeline carriers want FERC's help with rates; settlement efforts fail in long-running interstate tariffs dispute
Fed up with losing money, the company with the largest ownership stake in the trans-Alaska oil pipeline has asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to approve a new method for allocating the co...

ExxonMobil joins critics of tariff hike 01/10/2010
ExxonMobil is among parties lodging concerns about Cook Inlet Pipe Line Co.'s steep tariff hike. Steven Serpati, on behalf of ExxonMobil, filed a brief public comment with the Regulatory Commission of...

New Nicolai Creek gas well goes on line 01/10/2010
Aurora Gas has brought no. 11 well into operation and company applies for new PA and unit expansion at west Cook Inlet gas field
Independent gas producer Aurora Gas has brought on line a new well, the Nicolai Creek No. 11, in its Nicolai Creek gas field, at the northern end of Trading Bay, on the western coast of Alaska's Cook...

RCA approves Cook Inlet line rate hike 01/03/2010
Cook Inlet Pipe Line's 259 percent increase subject to refund; firm rips objector; RCA invites oil producers, others, to challenge
The Regulatory Commission of Alaska has approved Cook Inlet Pipe Line Co.'s controversial 259 percent rate increase, at least temporarily, and invited oil producers or others to challenge it and possi...

Huge tariff increase 12/20/2009
Cook Inlet Pipe Line Co. cites Mount Redoubt damage for 259% hike; west side line runs 42 miles from Granite Point to Drift River
Citing damage from the erupting Mount Redoubt volcano, Cook Inlet Pipe Line Co. is seeking a steep rate increase from Alaska regulators. The company, a Chevron subsidiary, submitted a tariff of $14.57...

The Explorers 2009: Interior Alaska basins 11/15/2009
Although analysts think that the majority of Alaska's oil and gas resources lie within the major basins of northern Alaska, Cook Inlet and the Bristol Bay area, there are several other basins around t...

The Explorers 2009: Chevron Alaska 11/15/2009
Chevron is one of the largest players in Alaska, but sometimes gets overshadowed by companies that operate more units or run higher profile exploration campaigns. Chevron arrived in Alaska more than 1...

The Explorers 2009: Cook Inlet basin 11/15/2009
Cook Inlet, a major sea inlet between the Kenai Peninsula and the mainland of Southcentral Alaska, lies over part of a deep sedimentary basin that has formed between the Kenai Mountains and the mounta...

Pacific Energy sale drama continues 11/01/2009
Bidders jockey for Cook Inlet oil and gas assets as objections pour in ahead of Nov. 3 hearing in US Bankruptcy Court in Delaware
An effort by Pacific Energy Resources Ltd. to recoup and then sell some of its abandoned Alaska oil and gas assets has ignited a competition for the properties, and drawn a flurry of objections. The w...

Kenai gas field turns 50 years old 10/18/2009
Discovered by Unocal and Ohio Oil a half century ago, Kenai created the Cook Inlet natural gas industry and still fuels Southcentral
The Kenai gas field started out as an oddball no one quite knew what to do with, but became an essential component of daily life and industry in Southcentral Alaska. And now, at 50, the field is like...

FERC: Lifespan no longer an issue 09/20/2009
Federal regulator rejects request from shippers, state to reconsider ruling that Alaska oil pipeline's usefulness ends in 2034
The federal agency that oversees interstate shipments of crude through the trans-Alaska oil pipeline has rebuffed efforts by some shippers and the State of Alaska to keep alive the question of the rem...

Companies sue over Spurr 09/20/2009
Dispute turns on who pays what to retire a CI platform no longer producing
The bankruptcy case of small Cook Inlet oil and gas producer Pacific Energy Resources Ltd. has spun off a court fight pitting two of the region's largest players. Marathon Oil and Chevron are tussling...

What price CI gas? 09/20/2009
RCA gleans views on breaking utility supply contract approval logjam
While concerns rise about whether natural gas supplies from Alaska's Cook Inlet basin will be able to keep up with local utility demand, especially during the depths of the winter, a debate continues...

Foothills, Beaufort Sea leases dropped 09/06/2009
Chevron subsidiary Union Oil Company of California has dropped 11 leases in the state's North Slope Foothills sale area, the remnant of an acreage position acquired in 2001 and 2002 at the state's fir...

Aurora working storage at Nicolai Creek 07/26/2009
Faces challenges of developing first third-party Cook Inlet gas storage, doing it at operating gas field with new gas well planned
Aurora Gas is working on a plan to provide third-party natural gas storage at its Nicolai Creek field - the first third-party storage available in the Cook Inlet basin. And this isn't a depleted field...

Pacific Energy sale 07/26/2009
Caribbean firms bid $8.1 million for Cook Inlet assets; hearing on July 27
Financially strapped oil and gas producer Pacific Energy Resources Ltd. is proposing to sell part of its Alaska holdings for $8.1 million to a pair of companies registered in the British Virgin Island...

TAPS transitioning to low flow future 07/19/2009
Strategic reconfiguration of the trans-Alaska pipeline moves ahead, while engineers assess the challenges of declining flow rates
At the end of May, the switchover to new electric pumps at pump station 4 of the trans-Alaska oil pipeline marked the latest major step in the upgrade of the pipeline system to accommodate declining r...

Swanson River gas satellites a go; Chevron, Marathon moving ahead 07/19/2009
Both Chevron and Marathon are moving ahead on work at Swanson River satellites where they hope to find commercial quantities of natural gas. This is an area where gas has been known since the 1960s,...

FERC denies rehearing request on pooling 07/05/2009
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission issued an order June 30 denying a rehearing request filed in December by three owners of the trans-Alaska oil pipeline. The carriers - ConocoPhillips Alaska, E...

BP, Conoco, Exxon seek reversal of FERC decision by circuit court 07/05/2009
The three major owners of the trans-Alaska oil pipeline have appealed a federal agency's order to charge shippers lower interstate rates for pumping oil through the 800-mile line in 2007 and 2008 and...

More questions than answers on CI gas 06/14/2009
Senate Resources Committee hears industry and agency perspectives on concerns about natural gas supplies from the Cook Inlet basin
Most people seem to agree on the scope of the problem, but finding solutions to the vexing question of ensuring adequate future energy supplies for the residents of Southcentral Alaska, given dwindl...

FERC accepts latest TAPS tariffs 06/14/2009
Regulator reverses 2008 order in favor of original calculations for valuing crude shipped through the trans-Alaska oil pipeline
Reversing an earlier order, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has accepted the latest tariffs filed by owners of the trans-Alaska oil pipeline in a move aimed at bringing nearly 30 years o...

Did FERC underestimate life span? 06/07/2009
Shippers, state seek rehearing of federal regulator's conclusion that the trans-Alaska oil pipeline's usefulness will end in 2034
Shippers on the trans-Alaska oil pipeline and the State of Alaska have asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to reconsider recent rulings in which it concluded that the useful life of the 800...

Cook Inlet sale draws bids on 4 tracts; no takers for Peninsula 05/24/2009
The Alaska Division of Oil and Gas had no bidders at its Alaska Peninsula areawide oil and gas lease sale, held May 20 in Anchorage. It did receive five bids on four tracts, 7,685 acres total, in the...

State extends Nikolaevsk unit terms 05/17/2009
State gives Unocal additional time to drill another Red well, releases flow test results from previous wells drilled in 2004
The state has agreed to extend the terms of the Nikolaevsk unit by more than two years. The unit was set to expire on Jan. 30, 2009, but will now run through March 31, 2011. Unocal, a subsidiary of Ch...