EIA forecasts $80 oil price this year 01/17/2010
Henry Hub natural gas spot price projected to average $5.36 per thousand cubic feet in '10; storage levels expected to remain high
The U.S. Department of Energy's Energy Information Administration said Jan. 12 in its Short-Term Energy Outlook that it expects the price of West Texas Intermediate crude oil to average $80 per barrel...

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...

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...

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...

Industry revival on Canada's horizon 01/03/2010
Firming of commodity prices points to resumption of oil sands growth; natural gas expected to remain weak; consolidation predicted
One of the strongest oil patch forecasts for 2010 has come from a leading Canadian law firm, which is counting on an industry revival as commodity prices strengthen, opening up the investment taps in...

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...

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...

Watchdog wants to zap tanker stowaways 12/27/2009
Prince William Sound group suggests treatment plant at Valdez to rid ballast water of potentially harmful nonindigenous organisms
An oil industry watchdog group is pushing for construction of a special treatment plant to kill invasive species in ballast water carried aboard oil tankers calling on Valdez to load Alaska North Slop...

Enbridge warns of possible pipeline over-capacity 12/27/2009
Between TransCanada and Enbridge - Canada's two biggest energy pipeline companies - there's seldom a meeting of the minds. From the time they got caught up squabbling over rights to ship Alaska North...

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...

EIA expects $76 per barrel this winter 12/20/2009
Henry Hub natural gas spot price projected at $3.95 per thousand cubic feet this year, $4.62 in 2010; US natural gas consumption down
The U.S. Energy Information Administration said Dec. 8 in its Short-Term Energy Outlook that it expects the price of West Texas Intermediate crude oil to average $76 from October through March, with a...

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...

Remote basin exploration moves forward 12/13/2009
Independent Trio Petroleum plans to drill first well in Selawik basin in late 2010, permitting for both oil and gas
A Bakersfield, Calif., independent is preparing to drill an oil and gas well next year in one of North America's last unexplored basins - northwest Alaska's Selawik basin, in more recent years referre...

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...

New economic age for Canada 12/13/2009
Final terms for Northern Gateway regulatory hearing coincide with Harper's declaration that Asia-Pacific supplanting US, Europe
The pieces are now in place for a Canadian regulatory hearing that carries profound overtones for Canada's economic future, now that Prime Minister Stephen Harper has rated the Asia-Pacific region ahe...

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...

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...

One more thing for oil sands 11/29/2009
Study says geopolitical events will determine sands development rate, markets served, upgrading, what environmental costs imposed
As if the Alberta oil sands don't have enough on their plate, figuring out economic and environmental challenges, a new study has tossed geopolitical ingredients into the mix. A joint report by the Lo...

Icy spill easier to clean, scientists say 11/22/2009
Research funded by oil interests conflicts with conventional wisdom, based on research done in Barents Sea above northern Europe
Scientists funded by Shell and six other oil companies say that cleaning up oil spills in Arctic ice is in many respects easier than cleaning it from open water. The reason, they said Nov. 17, is tha...

Flint Hills production lags 11/22/2009
Anchorage International air carriers scramble for jet fuel due to spike in demand
A spike in demand for jet fuel at the Anchorage International Airport has led to fuel shortages and caused air carriers to dramatically increase the amount of fuel brought into the state. Fuel demand...

The Explorers 2009: Northern Alaska and Arctic offshore 11/15/2009
In 1968 the discovery of the giant Prudhoe Bay field, the first field to be discovered on Alaska's North Slope and among the 20 largest oil fields ever discovered worldwide, triggered a northern Alask...

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...

ANS production back up from September 11/15/2009
Alaska North Slope production averaged 686,126 barrels per day in October, an increase of 1.4 percent from a September average of 676,664 bpd, according to data from the Alaska Department of Revenue's...