Oil Patch Insider: Banks offers Davis no state guarantees for Cook Inlet wells 12/27/2009
On Dec. 22 the top executive of Escopeta Oil and Gas received a polite, but "absolutely not" reply from the State of Alaska's oil chief in response to his Dec. 16 request that the state guarantee no "...

Oil Patch Insider: Davis asks State of Alaska for guarantee Escopeta's leases can be drilled in beluga habitat 12/20/2009
In light of the imminent creation by the federal government of a critical habitat for beluga whales in upper Cook Inlet, Escopeta Oil and Gas President Danny Davis has asked the State of Alaska for as...

The Explorers 2009: 11/15/2009
Renaissance hopes to benefit from wells drilled by the U.S. Navy more than 60 years ago. The Texas-based independent, which operates in Alaska both as Renaissance Alaska and Renaissance Cook Inlet, is...

The Explorers 2009: Escopeta Oil and Gas 11/15/2009
Escopeta came by the largest unit in the Cook Inlet the hard way. The Houston-based independent first took interest in Alaska in the early 1990s and began accumulating a land position in Cook Inlet by...

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...

Renaissance transferring inlet leases 10/11/2009
Renaissance Alaska LLC is in the process of transferring its onshore and offshore Cook Inlet basin leases to a new company, Stellar Oil and Gas LLC, owned by Renaissance executives Mark Landt, James Wat...

Kitchen Lights on 07/05/2009
State approves Cook Inlet unit combining Kitchen, Northern Lights, Corsair
The state has approved formation of the Kitchen Lights unit in Cook Inlet, combining the Kitchen, Northern Lights and Corsair prospects. The 83,394-acre unit includes 40,733 acres from the Escopeta O...

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...

Escopeta inching toward Kitchen Lights 04/12/2009
State puts 'super unit' out for public comment; plan of exploration requires 4 exploration wells through 2013, appeals dismissed
An independent exploration company could get more time to drill in the Cook Inlet basin. Under a proposal advanced by the state on March 3, state oil and gas officials are letting Escopeta Oil move ah...

State and Escopeta near deal on Kitchen 03/22/2009
Details limited, but Banks tells House committee division is awaiting a final plan of exploration for the offshore Cook Inlet unit
The state is near an agreement with an independent oil company on a proposal to explore a bundle of offshore prospects in the Cook Inlet, according to a top oil and gas official. The Division of Oil a...

PERL files Chapter 11 03/15/2009
Citing falling oil prices and big debt load, Pacific Energy files for bankruptcy
One of Alaska's smallest producers filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection March 8. In court documents, Pacific Energy Resources Ltd. said the drop in oil prices toward the end of last year weakene...

Turn on the Kitchen Lights? Escopeta asks for unit expansion 03/01/2009
Escopeta Oil is asking the state to expand the boundaries of the Kitchen unit to include a neighboring unit and several un-unitized leases in the waters of Upper Cook Inlet. If the state accepts the p...

Cook Inlet deal? 12/28/2008
State offers to combine prospects to save leases; companies want more time
State oil and gas officials are proposing to consolidate the lease holdings of three Cook Inlet operators in the hopes of speeding development of several offshore prospects. But the operators are aski...

State rejects Corsair expansion again 12/14/2008
Irwin upholds April ruling, citing missed deadlines; Pacific Energy to lose four leases at the end of the year; unit remains intact
Upholding its ruling from April, the Alaska Department of Natural Resources decided Dec. 3 not to expand the offshore Cook Inlet Corsair unit by incorporating several leases on the verge of expiration...

Legislators hear PT tiff 12/07/2008
Exxon says it is keeping to drilling schedule; DNR disputes what's permitted
The State of Alaska and working interest owners in the terminated Point Thomson unit are in court-ordered settlement negotiations - which made for some interesting testimony before a Dec. 1 joint meet...

State won't budge 12/07/2008
Corsair, Kitchen pushed to edge; DNR denies concessions at inlet units
The State is refusing to budge for two independent oil companies asking for concessions as they try to arrange the final pieces of difficult drilling programs in Cook Inlet. In a pair of letters dated...

The Explorers 2008: Other explorers keep pressing forward 11/23/2008
Despite many challenges, tiny companies continue to prep drilling programs across the state
High operating costs, remote locations and extensive regulations and bonding requirements can make Alaska a challenge for smaller independent oil and gas companies, but that doesn't always stop them f...

The Explorers 2008: A race at Corsair for Pacific Energy 11/23/2008
After a year in Alaska, California independent hoping for 2009 exploration season in Cook Inlet
Realists in the oil industry use the word "if," but so do pessimists, and over the past year no company in the Cook Inlet inspired the word more than Pacific Energy Resources Ltd. Well into its second...

Will almost be enough? 11/09/2008
Pacific Energy partners with Escopeta at Corsair, hoping for clemency from state
With a new partner and a few conditions, Pacific Energy Resources is hoping to save a bundle of Cook Inlet leases from expiring, and proceed with a drilling program next year, but negotiations between...

Pacific gets second extension 10/12/2008
Cook Inlet producer's negotiations with Blake Offshore, Dockwise delayed by hurricanes; Jones Act waiver still an issue
Following delays caused by a pair of hurricanes that hit the Gulf Coast around Labor Day, state oil and gas officials have given a Cook Inlet operator another extension on the deadline for hiring a ve...

Betting on exploration 07/13/2008
Alaska officials wager gas line from Cook Inlet to Fairbanks will spur drilling
The newest in-state gas pipeline plan for Alaska is based on a bet. By connecting a region with a declining supply of gas to another region desperate for affordable fuel, the state is betting it can j...

Corsair decision appealed 05/25/2008
Pacific Energy claims four expansion leases justify planned drilling program
A small independent oil company claims the state didn't expand an offshore Cook Inlet unit as a way to bolster the case against the owners of the Point Thomson unit on Alaska's North Slope. The claim...

Pacific Energy to drill Escopeta's onshore Cook Inlet gas prospect 05/11/2008
Pacific Energy Resources will be the operator for Escopeta Oil's 2008-09 winter drilling program at the North Alexander exploration unit in Alaska's Cook Inlet basin, Escopeta President Danny Davis an...

Oil Patch Insider 01/27/2008
BP orders three new rigs for Prudhoe Bay; Minmet release comes as surprise to Escopeta
According to Petroleum News sources BP Exploration (Alaska) has ordered three new drilling rigs for in-field drilling at the giant Prudhoe Bay oil field - two rigs from Parker Drilling and one from Do...

Escopeta gets more time to drill Kitchen 01/20/2008
State of Alaska gives Davis one-year reprieve; Pacific Energy committed to bringing jack-up into Cook Inlet for Corsair, Redoubt
On Dec. 31 Escopeta Oil received a one-year reprieve from the State of Alaska for drilling an exploration well in its Kitchen unit in Cook Inlet, the body of water in Southcentral Alaska that overlies...