ConocoPhillips goes its own way 12/09/2007
Company rejects AGIA, submits own proposal to state for North Slope natural gas project; says it requires no matching funds
ConocoPhillips did not submit an application under Gov. Sarah Palin's Alaska Gasline Inducement Act but the company has put a non-AGIA proposal before the state. None of the major gas holders on the N...

MidAmerican wants 'new way forward' 12/09/2007
Company doesn't apply under AGIA, says 'deepening and ongoing investigations' make compliant application 'unrealistic'
MidAmerican Energy Holdings Co. was widely anticipated as an applicant to build a natural gas pipeline project under Gov. Sarah Palin's Alaska Gasline Inducement Act. The company demurred, telling th...

THE EXPLORERS 2007: Anadarko to drill first ANS gas well 11/18/2007
Has two rigs under contract, drilling 2 Brooks Range gas prospects, going back to finish Jacob's Ladder
Anadarko Petroleum and its partners in the Brooks Range Foothills, BG Alaska and Petro-Canada, plan to drill the first two natural gas exploration wells in northern Alaska this winter. Gas discoveries...

Administration releases ACES draft 10/07/2007
Revenue Commissioner Galvin says no unexpected difficulties encountered - bill reflects principles governor outlined in September
Information and auditors, along with an increased tax rate, are key aspects of the draft bill for a new production tax - "Alaska's clear and equitable share" or ACES - introduced by the administration...

Palin to chair oil commission 09/30/2007
Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has been named to chair the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission for 2007-08. The commission said Palin is the only chairman in its history to have served as a past offic...

Mark Myers on USGS, scientific challenges 09/23/2007
U.S. Geological Survey Director Mark Myers, an AAPG member who was nominated by President Bush and confirmed by the Senate in 2006, heads up an entity that has more than 10,000 scientists, technicians...

Oil taxes revisited 09/09/2007
Hybrid net-gross tax would raise more than PPT actual, less than PPT proposed
Gov. Sarah Palin wants the Alaska Legislature to change the state's oil tax system from a tax on oil company profits - a net tax - to a hybrid tax, part net and part gross. The goal is to increase rev...

FERC praises Palin's progress on gas line 08/19/2007
Fourth report from federal regulatory agency on Alaska natural gas pipeline progress cites state, federal advancements
Both the State of Alaska and the federal government have made progress toward an Alaska natural gas pipeline project, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission told Congress Aug. 15 in its fourth semi-...

Oil Patch Insider 08/19/2007
Renaissance plans to bring jack-up to Cook Inlet next summer
A Cook Inlet independent hopes to bring a jack-up to Cook Inlet next summer. In an Aug. 14 interview with Petroleum News, Renaissance Alaska LLC executive Mark Landt said his company has bids from two...

Oil Patch Insider 08/05/2007
Oil sands grind down doubter BP; Alaska exploration buzz baseless, says BP; Palin calls PPT special session
BP likes spreading the message that its initials stand for Beyond Petroleum. How about Behind our Peers? Well, that was the case until this year when the global supermajor decided to clamber aboard th...

FERC can't force expansion 08/05/2007
Court upholds rules regulating Alaska gas line, while quieting owners' fears
A federal appeals court rejected an effort July 27 by three major gas owners in Alaska to overturn two rules governing access to a potential multibillion-dollar pipeline that would transport natural g...

AGIA race begins 07/08/2007
Applications due Oct. 1; process includes opportunity for anonymous QandA
The race is on - but how large the field is and who the runners are won't be known until sometime in October, when applications under the Alaska Gasline Inducement Act are made public. AGIA is Gov. S...

Palin freezes energy lobbying, ad contract 06/03/2007
Questions about how Pac/West Communications spent funds raised; no-bid $3M award an issue for some from the beginning
Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has frozen the contract of a firm originally hired with a no-bid contract to push for opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to petroleum drilling. Palin at first supporte...