THE EXPLORERS 2007: Small independents in high gear 11/18/2007
Five small EandP gas companies plan to drill exploration wells on Alaska's North Slope winter 2007-08
Five small independent oil and gas companies expect to drill exploration wells on Alaska's North Slope in the winter exploration season of 2007-08. In the past, the highest number of small independent...

THE EXPLORERS 2007: Aurora Gas in holding pattern 11/18/2007
Drilling rig remains idle while company deals with litigation, looks to sell or recapitalize company
Following a difficult year in 2006, Aurora Gas remains in something of a holding pattern while it tries to resolve its future. Aurora Gas has spent the majority of 2007 focused on its ongoing litigati...

Seven drilling ANS exploration wells 11/18/2007
Gas target of two Anadarko's wells; four small independents to drill; Chevron starts multi-year exploratory program in Foothills
Seven oil and gas companies plan to drill exploration wells on Alaska's North Slope this winter; an eighth company is moving forward with plans to re-enter an old exploration well on an undeveloped pr...

AOGCC reduces potential oil flow from North Slope Burglin well 11/04/2007
Following an Oct. 29 decision by the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission to further reduce the potential unassisted oil flow from the North Slope Burglin No. 33-1 well, Alaskan Crude Corp. says...

LNG plant key to stable Cook Inlet market 09/16/2007
Supporters say renewing Nikiski facility's federal export license for two years would be good for economy, industry and state
With what many believe is a natural gas shortage unfolding in Cook Inlet, renewing a license for a plant in Nikiski to ship liquefied natural gas to Asia seems at first glance a frivolous, if not fool...

Cook Inlet sale draws bids over wide area 06/03/2007
Donkel-Cade bids widespread; Marathon, Renaissance, Aurora fill in around existing properties; newcomer Nordik takes four tracts
Seven bidders, six successful, participated in the $3.3 million Cook Inlet areawide oil and gas lease sale held by the Alaska Division of Oil and Gas May 23: Aurora Gas LLC; Daniel K. Donkel (25 perce...

Cook Inlet gas market in transition for Enstar 04/29/2007
Gas deliverability challenges require close management of load balancing and a new look at gas supply contracts and arrangements
Although the escalating price of natural gas in Southcentral Alaska is providing gas consumers with some obvious evidence of gas supply constraints in the region, the hour-by-hour, behind the scenes j...

Looking for Cook Inlet hydrocarbon kitchen 04/01/2007
Former Mobil Oil geologist Frank Banar explains how Escopeta's Kitchen prospects may contain large quantities of gas and light oil
Only a drill bit is going to determine how much oil and gas lies deep beneath Alaska's upper Cook Inlet in Escopeta Oil and Gas's Kitchen prospects. But a multi-year effort by Escopeta to bring a jack...

Swift: Alaska will likely develop into 'significant play area' 04/01/2007
In March 2006, Aurora Gas and Houston-based independent Swift Energy, then new to Alaska, announced a joint venture for Aurora's Cook Inlet acreage, a deal that earned Swift an average working interes...

Pfoff: Aurora Power on life support 03/18/2007
Southcentral Alaska natural gas marketing company Aurora Power has since its foundation in 1994 provided gas consumers with an alternative gas supply option to major gas utility Enstar Natural Gas Co....

Aurora at crossroads in Cook Inlet 03/18/2007
Wildcat drilling changes the company's investment risk profile while a lawsuit with Enstar places question marks over the Moquawkie area
Since the company's formation in 2000 Aurora Gas has established itself as small, independent explorer and producer, bringing natural gas to market in Alaska's Cook Inlet. The company now operates fiv...

Enstar waging war on small inlet producer 03/18/2007
While all eyes are on the continuing saga of the North Slope gas pipeline project, a smaller war is being waged in the Cook Inlet natural gas market. Enstar Natural Gas Co. has initiated litigati...

Enstar moves forward on Homer gas line 02/25/2007
Looking at Cosmopolitan gas; drafts pipeline application for submission in March; if response favorable will start permitting
Curtis Thayer, director of corporate and external affairs for Enstar Natural Gas Co., told Petroleum News Feb. 21 that his company has drafted a South Kenai Pipeline Extension Application for a gas pi...

MEET ALASKA 2007: Alaska roll call lookin' good 01/21/2007
Today 31 oil and gas companies have significant investments in Alaska; in 1996 that number was down to 7
Ten years ago Petroleum News published a "roll call" of oil and gas companies doing business in Alaska. In the five preceding years the number had dropped by more than one-half, from 19 active compani...

Alaska LNG rumor denied 01/14/2007
News report indicates biggest customer may be edging away from Nikiski supply
The biggest customer for liquefied natural gas coming from Nikiski's LNG plant may be looking for other sources of supply after March 2009. That's when the aging plant will need a new export license f...

Forest selling Alaska assets 01/14/2007
Reducing debt after Houston Exploration buy, focus on onshore Lower 48 properties
Forest Oil Corp.'s November announcement that it was spinning off its Alaska assets as a separate subsidiary triggered speculation that the company was planning to sell off those assets. That speculat...

Fairbanks Natural Gas to build North Slope LNG plant, will truck LNG south 12/24/2006
Faced with problems with gas supplies from Cook Inlet, Fairbanks Natural Gas is moving ahead with plans to build its own LNG plant on the North Slope, Dan Britton, the company's president, told Petrol...

PETROLEUM DIRECTORY: Epoch completes roll-out of fourth generation E-Series™ FID gas detection equipment 12/10/2006
Every employee makes safety a top priority at Epoch Well Services - 2,000 days since a lost time accident carries bragging rights
Q. Where is your company located? More than one location? A. The corporate office is located in Houston, Texas, with field offices in Anchorage, Alaska, Bakersfield, Calif., New Iberia, La., Grand Ju...