Mackenzie project gets hearing dates 01/17/2010
The Mackenzie Gas Project has been given its roadmap for the final regulatory phases. Canada's National Energy Board said it will start hearing concluding arguments April 12 in Yellowknife and wrap up...

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...

West Alpine on hold 01/17/2010
Without corps permit, ConocoPhillips can't start work in 2010-11 winter season
Work on ConocoPhillips Alaska's Alpine West or CD-5 satellite - the first satellite planned for development in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska - has been delayed by at least a year. The company...

Denali sets open season date 01/17/2010
Will submit package to FERC in April, conduct 90-day OS beginning in July
Both Alaska natural gas pipeline projects have now set dates for their open seasons, the quest for customers to commit to filling a proposed line with natural gas. Denali, a joint venture of BP and C...

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...

Olgoonik, UIC to support Shell operations 01/10/2010
Shell is partnering with Olgoonik Corp., the Native village corporation for the Chukchi Sea coast village of Wainwright, and Ukpeaegvik Inupiat Corp., the Native village corporation for Barrow, to ope...

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...

Oil Patch Insider: Gazprom CEO: U.S. firms lack knowledge for Arctic projects 01/10/2010
Alaskans need help from Russians with projects in the Arctic, the CEO of Russian energy giant Gazprom, Alexei Miller, has told Russian President Dmitri Medvedev, Gazprom said in a release Dec. 25. Mil...

Ho-ho-hold the holidays 01/10/2010
Proponents of Mackenzie gas have tight deadline to respond to 679-page report
It landed Dec. 30 with a thud on desks in the high-rise petroleum towers of downtown Calgary, spoiling whatever hopes employees working on the Mackenzie Gas Project might have had to put their feet up...

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...

New Chukchi lawsuit schedule proposed 01/03/2010
The plaintiffs and defendants in an appeal in the U.S. District Court for the District of Alaska against the February 2008 Chukchi Sea outer continental shelf oil and gas lease sale have filed a propo...

Shell goes for reduced OCS footprint 01/03/2010
Macrander says using advanced technologies to minimize environmental impacts makes business sense and protects the Arctic offshore
The use of advanced technologies that reduce environmental impacts and improve business efficiency distinguishes Shell in the oil and gas industry, Michael Macrander, Shell's Alaska lead scientist, to...

Mackenzie has liftoff; panel gives support to project 01/03/2010
The Mackenzie Gas Project has surfaced from its prolonged regulatory bog to receive strong backing from a Joint Review Panel which gave approval, along with caveats, based on its examination of the im...

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...

What chance now for North Slope LNG? 12/20/2009
World market is growing fast but North Slope gas would need to compete on cost with massive new supplies close to tidewater
Few subjects raise the temperature more in a room full of Alaskans on a cold winter night than the perennial debate about exporting North Slope gas in a pipeline through Canada versus exporting the ga...

Exploration credits holding steady 12/20/2009
Proposed FY 2011 budget has $180M for tax credits, funds in-state and out-of-state gas, variety of other resource-related projects
The $10.5 billion budget proposed by Alaska Gov. Sean Parnell on Dec. 14 continues to fund many resource development projects started under the Palin administration, and creates several new projects,...

Seeking answers 12/13/2009
15 lawmakers ask Parnell if state oil tax policy helps or hurts Alaska investment
A group of leading state legislators on Dec. 4 asked Gov. Sean Parnell for a raft of information they want to use to evaluate whether the 2007 oil tax reform is helping or hurting industry investment...

DOI still reworking lease sale assessment 12/06/2009
The U.S. Department of the Interior is still reworking its environmental analysis for its 2007-12 program of oil and gas lease sales on the outer continental shelf of the Beaufort Sea, the Chukchi Sea...

'Possible ... probably not likely' 12/06/2009
EnCana chairman, execs play down takeover risks as Canadian independent goes its separate ways; argue share value best protection
A few voices of dissent were effectively stifled and an overwhelming 99 percent-plus of shareholders set the oil and natural gas parts of EnCana on separate directions, with executives playing down an...

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...

Husky makes oil strike in Newfoundland 12/06/2009
Husky Energy, currently the most active company in Atlantic Canada's offshore, has brought some cheer to an otherwise bleak exploration year in the region, disclosing a possible new source of oil just...

Wood Mac: EandP spend to recover in 2011, flat in 2010; Conoco's Alaska budget uncertain 12/06/2009
Wood Mackenzie predicts investment in the world's upstream oil and gas sector will grow modestly in 2011, reaching around $350 billion by 2012, down from a five-year peak of $370 billion in 2008 when...

BP: More challenges than a few years ago 11/29/2009
Minge tells RDC BP's 50-year Alaska strategy a dream, not a promise; cost structure threatens light oil; costs up 4 times oil price
BP has talked in recent years about the company's 50-year future in Alaska. But that strategy is "a dream: It's not a promise," BP Exploration (Alaska) President John Minge told the Resource Developm...

Conoco won't explore this year in Alaska 11/29/2009
Company focusing on preparing for Chukchi drilling in 2012; development drilling at Kuparuk, Alpine down; focus on maintenance
ConocoPhillips Alaska is changing its exploration focus and looking to the Chukchi Sea, Helene Harding, the company's vice president of North Slope operations and development, said Nov. 18. Harding t...