Cash-strapped Fox sets sights on high-cost Alaska 11/25/2007
Alaska newcomer Fox Petroleum is a very small player in a very large oil patch inhabited by much larger, better-financed, better-equipped, and more successful exploration and production companies. Fi...

Breaking through the ice 11/25/2007
Finland leading the way in evolving icebreaker designs from Baltic Sea that are opening new opportunities for marine operations in Arctic seas worldwide
The old adage of necessity being the mother of invention would certainly seem to apply to the icebreaker industry in Finland: The country depends on marine trade routes through Baltic Sea waters that...

THE EXPLORERS 2007: Eni moving forward with Nikaitchuq 11/18/2007
Beaufort Sea project sanction expected by end of 2007, first oil 2009; Maggiore, Rock Flour undergoing evaluation
The signs are good that Eni will move forward with development of its Nikaitchuq unit offshore Alaska's North Slope in 2008. On Oct. 5, 2007, the Houston-based affiliate of Italy's Eni SpA received S...

Alaska oil forecast shaky 11/18/2007
Production interruptions, infrastructure renewal, slowed heavy oil pace the cause
The fall production forecast for Alaska's North Slope is down from the spring forecast - down for the next eight years. Projected volumes have dropped as much as 130,000 barrels per day for fiscal yea...

PETROLEUM DIRECTORY: HC Price: On the leading-edge of engineering, procurement and construction projects 11/04/2007
Mechanical/electrical-related pipeline projects, electrical power and process facilities and infrastructure installations in Alaska and the Lower 48 represent HC Price Co.'s core competency
While not a company with a high-profile general public presence, HC Price Co. concentrates its resources on recruiting and retaining the most qualified and experienced professionals, providing good v...

30 STRONG: TAPS: Young after 30 years 10/14/2007
Over past 10 years Alyeska achieved 99.5% pipeline mechanical reliability rate
It is an unrivaled engineering marvel compared by some with the Great Wall of China. It has safely and reliably delivered incomparable wealth in petroleum riches to the American people over three deca...

30 STRONG: Mega-line drives industry technology 10/14/2007
30-year old trans-Alaska pipeline adopts best new technology for safe, reliable operation
In the 30 years since operators moved the first barrel of Prudhoe Bay oil down the trans-Alaska pipeline in 1977, improvements in technology have illuminated the path forward on Alaska's North Slope. ...

Alyeska works issues 09/02/2007
Strategic reconfiguration project now sequential; part of normal operations
Strategic reconfiguration, designed to bring the trans-Alaska oil pipeline into the digital age and also in line with current throughput levels of Alaska North Slope crude oil, has itself been reconfi...

Regulators to revise TAPS Quality Bank 07/22/2007
State commissioners, federal judges hear testimony in concurrent hearings on proposed cost adjustment to value of ANS crude
The Regulatory Commission of Alaska and Federal Energy Regulatory Commission wrapped up more than a week of concurrent hearings July 18 on how best to revise the processing cost adjustment to the heav...

Fox buys Donkel North Slope leases 07/15/2007
London-based Fox Petroleum Inc. said July 12 that it has signed an agreement to purchase exploration rights to some 32,000 acres on Alaska's North Slope. The acreage consists of 12 State of Alaska oi...

TAPS: 30 years and going strong 06/24/2007
Hostler gives upbeat assessment of current status of trans-Alaska oil pipeline, Alyeska's ability to deal with evolving challenges
It's been 30 years since the first oil entered the trans-Alaska oil pipeline system on June 20, 1977. And, with 15 billion barrels of North Slope crude already under its belt, the pipeline is entering...

Board sets TAPS' value at $4.6B, owners appeal to Superior Court 06/10/2007
The Alaska Assessment Review Board disappointed both oil companies and several local governments by announcing the trans-Alaska pipeline system, at least for tax purposes, is worth $4.6 billion. Muni...

TAPS rates too high 05/27/2007
FERC judge says Alaska pipeline owners double-dipped to justify tariffs
A federal judge May 17 ordered owners of the trans-Alaska oil pipeline to slash nearly in half tariffs they propose to charge for crude shipments, a move likely to generate substantially higher revenu...

Savings undercut pipeline upkeep 05/20/2007
Overconfidence in leak prevention at BP among report's findings, but larger budgets alone would not have averted Prudhoe mishaps
BP lacked a good process for assessing corrosion risk in Prudhoe Bay pipelines, and corrosion fighters were forced to make "tradeoffs" to meet budget targets, a BP-hired consultant found. The report...

Up to 6 ERD wells in works for Liberty 05/20/2007
Wells from Endicott satellite island for BP's second Beaufort Sea oil project will break new records for extended reach drilling
After several years of project evaluation and a progression through various field-design concepts, BP has submitted a detailed plan of development for the Liberty field to the U.S. Minerals Management...

MMS Alaska sales to go farther out 05/20/2007
Sales planned for 2007-12 could help keep trans-Alaska oil pipeline flowing; development in Arctic OCS will take 10-20 years
North Slope production is declining and the trans-Alaska oil pipeline is running at less than half the volume it carried in the 1980s. Resources from offshore Alaska could help keep flow rates up in t...

Ins, outs of developing ANS gas fields 04/29/2007
MMS's Jim Craig talks about what, and how long, it will take to develop new natural gas discoveries on Alaska's North Slope
The ongoing debate about a natural gas line from Alaska's North Slope has focused attention on the economics of the line and issues such as expandability of pipeline capacity to accommodate as yet und...

Petro Star argues view of TAPS tariffs 04/01/2007
Minor player supports RCA's in-state rates, urges damages instead of refunds if 2005 and 2006 interstate rates are ruled excessive
Petro Star Inc., a minor player in the drama unfolding in Washington, D.C., over tariffs charged by owners of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System, offered a somewhat different take on how federal regulat...

Alyeska to move trans-Alaska pipeline control center out of Valdez 03/25/2007
New technologies, such as high-speed Internet and fiber optics, are allowing Alyeska Pipeline Service Co. to move its control center for the trans-Alaska oil pipeline out of the port of Valdez. The pi...

FERC legal team takes sides 03/11/2007
Shoots holes in TAPS owners' claims as tariff litigation moves toward review
A legal team at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has issued an opinion that owners of the trans-Alaska oil pipeline fighting in a Washington, D.C., court to justify the tariffs they would lik...

Oil Patch Insider 02/18/2007
TAPS starts first new electric pumps; Agrium writes off Nikiski; Palin slams Exxon; Petro-Canada not going to operate in NPR-A
The startup of the new electric pump system at pump station 9 of the trans-Alaska pipeline has started to bring to fruition the years of work involved in the strategic reconfiguration of the pipeline...

Pipeline operator fails to find missing pig piece 02/11/2007
An aggressive cleaning device sent through the trans-Alaska oil pipeline failed to find a 20-inch diameter metal ring that went missing in the line in December, a spokesman for the operator said Feb....

MINING NEWS: Mining and the Law: Governor picks knowledgeable expert to lead DEC 01/28/2007
While the jury may still be out when it comes to our new governor, Sarah Palin, it sure seems like she is starting off on the right foot. Every administration must wrestle with the need to recruit hig...

BP 'ready to go' on slope gas line 01/28/2007
BP America President and Chairman Bob Malone assured the Alaska Support Industry Alliance's Jan. 19 Meet Alaska conference of BP's commitment to Alaska, including heightened maintenance of existing oi...

KUPARUK ANNIVERSARY: Production begins 3 months early 01/21/2007
Kuparuk comes online in December '81 from 5 gravel drill sites in 20-mile square ARCO-owned area
Production began at the Kuparuk River oil field on Dec. 13, 1981, three months ahead of schedule. When the board gave the go-ahead in 1979 to spend $450 million for initial field development, it was...